Qatar high-jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim made history on Tuesday evening by becoming the first-ever athlete from the country to claim a silver medal at an Olympic Games.
The 25-year-old from Doha cleared 2.36 metres, but was pipped to gold by Canada’s Derek Drouin who jumped a season best 2.38 metres in a closely-contested high jump final at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
Ukraine’s Bohdan Bondarenko took the bronze medal clearing a height of 2.33 metres.
Barshim, the London 2012 bronze medallist, has written himself into the record books following his 2014 World Indoor gold medal and achieving the second highest jump in history with 2.43 metres, also in 2014.
A fierce competitor, Barshim had his eyes on the gold medal and is already thinking about the next steps on his historic sporting journey.
Speaking after his competition, he said: “We aimed for the gold and we will always aspire to achieve that. I’m very thankful for the silver medal and will aim to win gold in Tokyo 2020. It was a difficult final – every technical error made a difference, plus there were 15 athletes in the final which is quite a large number.
“I have a lot to be thankful for during my sporting journey – I’ve set a world record, I’ve won Olympic medals but the most important thing is to set a plan with the coach and work towards it. The world record and the Olympic gold medal are both goals for me.”
Fifteen competitors entered the Olympic high jump final and by 2.33 metres, 10 of the field were still in the contest. However, by 2.36 metres, only Barshim, Bondarenko and Drouin remained in contention. Bondarenko chose to pass at this height whilst Barshim and Drouin cleared easily with their first attempts.
The bar then moved to 2.38 metres and Drouin cleared first time. Barshim had three valiant attempts at the height but couldn’t quite clear the bar, leaving the ball in Bondarenko’s court. With two failures at the same height, Bondarenko chose to gamble and attempt 2.40 metres but it didn’t pay off, meaning Bondarenko settled for bronze and Barshim moved into second place and claimed a historic silver medal for Qatar.
Speaking about Barshim’s momentous achievement, Qatar Olympic Committee president HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani said: “On behalf of the whole Qatar Olympic Committee, we pass our huge congratulations to Mutaz Barshim for becoming Qatar’s first-ever Olympic silver medallist. This is the biggest achievement in Qatar’s Olympic history and we are so proud of him.
“We know that he will have inspired a new generation of sporting heroes and connected new audiences to Olympic sport. Qatar has made huge progress on the sporting field over recent years and I would like to pass my thanks to HH the Emir  for all his efforts and dedication to developing sport in Qatar.”
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani was the first to call Barshim following his silver medal winning performance and Barshim dedicated his medal to him.
A graduate of the world-renowned Aspire Academy for Sporting Excellence, Barshim is a product of Qatar’s sporting infrastructure and shows the progress that the state continues to make on the sporting field.
Further Aspire Academy graduates will compete in the Olympic Games this week with double World Junior Champion Ashraf Elseify going in the hammer throw final later at the games, and javelin thrower Ahmed Bader competing in the javelin qualification.
The show jumping team narrowly missed out on a spot in the team final after finishing ninth in round two, with only eight progressing but still made history by becoming Qatar’s first-ever show jumping team to compete in an Olympic Games.