Mutaz Barshim exclusive: Olympic high jump champion 'hides' medals to stay motivated - 'I want to do more'
:focal(155x161:157x159)/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2023/11/24/3831132-77855584-310-310.jpg)
Published 17/04/2024 at 08:37 GMT
Qatar's Mutaz Barshim has explained to Eurosport why he does not have his medals displayed in his house. The Olympic high jump champion said he "hides everything" so he can remain motivated to keep winning. Barshim also spoke about the moment he decided to share an Olympic gold medal with his rival Gianmarco Tamberi, and why it will "never happen again".
'Well, that didn't help!' - Uma almost misses final turn as he wins Paris marathon
Olympic high jump champion Mutaz Barshim has revealed he hides his medals and trophies to keep up his motivation levels.
The 32-year-old has three Olympic medals in total, having preceded his gold at Tokyo 2020 with silvers at London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Barshim also has three world titles to his name, as well as numerous other accolades from other competitions.
Despite such success at the highest level, Barshim told Eurosport that he is still motivated to keep winning.
“People always ask me, ‘How are you still going’, given the fact that I won everything,” he said. I’ve won gold in nationals to gold in the Olympics.
“For me, I look at the sport like there's not one single goal that I'm looking for. I want to be a world champion, and then it's done. No, I've achieved that. It's good. What can I do more? I want to win it twice, three times. I want to do more.”
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2024/04/12/3947882-80171348-2560-1440.jpg)
TOKYO, JAPAN - AUGUST 2: Gold Medalists Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy and Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar, Bronze Medalist Maksim Nedasekau of Belarus during the medal ceremony of the Men's High Jump on day ten of the athletics events of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic G
Image credit: Eurosport
Barshim explained that none of his medals were on display at his house so he could avoid becoming complacent.
“If you come to my house, you will not see any medals. There are no medals, no trophy, nothing.
“I hide everything because I don't want to feel that satisfaction that I've done so much. One day, hopefully, when I retire, I take everything back, I look at it and I enjoy it. But for now, I want to do the most.
“I want to be mentioned as one of the high jump greats. I want my name to be mentioned whenever high jump is mentioned. I want to make it hard and difficult for the person who's coming behind me to break my records.”
Qatar’s Barshim and his Italian rival Gianmarco Tamberi made headlines during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after both jumping 2.37 metres and deciding to share the gold medal.
Both athletes had overcome injury to compete at the Games, with Barshim explaining why this convinced him to skip a jump-off for the gold.
“It's coming back from the injury and giving back what we've been through physically and mentally, it's nearly impossible,” Barshim said. “Even the professor that did my surgery said ‘You will never be able to jump again’.
“Just imagine how difficult and how hard it is to come from this and to jump among the best of the best in the world, [at] the Olympics, and beat everyone.
“So when me and Marco could tie on that level, for me, that was the best finish, because I don't deserve silver. Neither did he, because he did the same sacrifice.”
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2024/04/07/3944668-80107073-2560-1440.jpg)
'It's been a remarkable race' - Fikir edges out Tirusew to win women's race at Paris marathon
Despite being part of such an iconic moment which is now one of the most well-remembered from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Barshim appeared dubious that it would ever happen again.
“But still, we're athletes and we're professionals,” he said. “We are very selfish. We always want to be the best. I want to be the best. He wants to be the best. Upcomers want to be the best.
“So that will never happen again. It was a moment, and it was, I think, a historical moment, but it’s not going to happen again. Now we always have to go and push the limit.”
Barshim is set to defend his Olympic high jump title at Paris 2024 after achieving the entry standard of 2.33m.
- - -
The Olympic Games will return with Paris 2024, live on Eurosport and discovery+, the Eurosport app and at eurosport.com
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement