Qatar- Resolute Barshim eyes gold in Rio Olympics

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Qatar’s star high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim gestures during a press conference at InterContinental The City Hotel in Doha yesterday.

By Fawad Hussain

Doha: Mutaz Essa Barshim is targeting Qatar’s first ever gold medal next year when he competes at the Olympic Games to be held in Rio de Janeiro in August 2016.

The star Qatari high jumper who bagged a bronze at the 2012 London Olympic Games wants to touch new heights at next year’s Olympics.

Three years ago Barshim stunned pundits by clinching a bronze medal in London while he was still nursing a stress fracture in the lumbar vertebra of his back he suffered two months before the mega event.

Hoping to stay fit over the course of next nine months Barshim is not looking at anything less than a gold medal in Rio.

“A gold in Olympics is the main target. It is big. You will always have to aim higher” the Qatari high jumper said yesterday.

After a hectic 2015 which also saw the Beijing IAAF Worlds Athletics Championships in August next year will be another grueling season for the athletes with World Indoor Athletics Championships in Portland US along with the Rio Games besides the Diamond League series scheduled to take place.

The world indoor champion said managing a busy schedule next year will ‘be a tough task’.

“I think it is a big challenge – time zones traveling different places. But I see it as a positive thing’ Barshim said.

“You really have to be determined of what you want to do and believe in yourself. I think it’s easy than boring” he smiled before adding that best efforts will be needed for a podium finish.

To be in the best shape for Olympics the 24-year old said he will focus less on the Diamond League.

“I don’t think I will be competing in every Diamond League may be in one or two. Less focus on that my main focus will be for Olympics that’s the key I think” he said.

Barshim said he has no special training plans for important assignments next year.

“I will mostly train in Poland because my coach (Stanislaw Szczyrba) is from Poland. I stay in Doha may be for four months and then rest of the training outside.

“I may train in Sweden also there are no special training plans we will stick to the same plan…more focused but the same plan” Barshim said.

The star athlete was satisfied with his performance in 2015.

“ I am satisfied. It was a long season and I traveled a lot. This gave me a lot of experience which will help me next year” he said.

Barshim blamed exhaustion for his failure to win medal at the Beijing World Championships.

“It was just because of traveling. The body was tired” he said.

The star athlete said competing at indoor or outdoor competitions is never an issue.

“I love both of them. When I compete outdoor I miss indoor and when I compete in indoor event I miss out door. Shifting from them is not that difficult. The main challenge is the surface” Barshim said.

“It will be an important year with Asian and World events taking place apart from the Olympics. If you want to finish among top three you will have to be professionally realistic” he said.

THE PENINSULA