Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) President HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani met with Rio 2016 Olympic silver medallist Mutaz Barshim, and Paralympic silver medallists Abdelrahman Abdelqader and Sara Masoud to celebrate their historic achievements.
Commenting on Team Qatar’s success, Sheikh Joaan said: “We in the Qatar Olympic Committee are incredibly proud of our Olympic and Paralympic heroes. It is with great pleasure that I congratulate our stars Mutaz Barshim, Abdelrahman Abdelqader and Sara Masoud for their historic achievements. Competing in the Games is an achievement in itself, but to take home a silver medal is an amazing accomplishment. We are extremely excited for what the future holds for these fantastic athletes.”
Sheikh Joaan met with the athletes in the QOC headquarters and thanked them for their hard work, persistent effort and sporting excellence – as each one of the athletes had made history for Qatar.
Star high jumper Barshim made history at Rio 2016 by becoming the first ever Qatari Olympic silver medallist, improving on his bronze medal from the London 2012 Olympic Games. The 25-year-old cleared 2.36m in the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, second only to Canada’s Derek Drouin who jumped a season best 2.38m.
Paralympian Abdelqader, meanwhile, became the first ever medallist for Team Qatar in the Paralympics since their debut in the 1996 Atlanta Games, after taking the silver medal in the shot put F34 event. Abdelqader is ranked 3rd worldwide in the event and used his previous experience to gain the upper hand in the Paralympic final to take silver with a throw of 11.15m.
The shot put event proved especially successful for Team Qatar at the Paralympics, with Sara Masoud, 30, winning the silver medal in the F33 class thus becoming Qatar’s first ever female Paralympic medallist. Masoud gave it her all in the final and entered the history books with an impressive 5.09m throw.