Mutaz Barshim: The Olympic hero who shared his gold

Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar is a top notch athlete in the high jump event. The 30-year-old has 2 Olympic silvers, has won the high jump World Championship twice, holds the second best high jump records ever in the world, and has been the Asian champion ever since he started winning at junior global events.  

But what set him apart this August at Tokyo Olympics was a decision he took in the final round – he chose to share the gold with his opponent – because the other man was wounded!  

Breath-taking final showdown  
August 2 saw one of the toughest competitions at Tokyo this year. As the men’s high jump event inched towards the final, it was clear that two competitors, Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi (29) and Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim (30) were better than the rest. Barshim is the reigning world champion. Both of them jumped 2.37 meters and remained on par. Olympic officials gave three more attempts to each of them as tie-breaker, but they were unable to reach more than that height. So one more attempt was given to two both of them, but Tamberi withdrew from it as the last attempt had injured his leg. With no opponent, Barshim was the obvious winner.  

But Barshim went up to an official and asked, "Can the gold be shared between the two of us?"  The official checked and said "Yes, it’s possible.” Barshim then announced his withdrawal from the last attempt. Tamberi ran to him, hugged Barshim and screamed with joy.  

Living up to the changed Olympics motto 
The pandemic had forced organisers to postpone the Olympics by one year.  Given the struggles athletes had to undergo to participate in these troubled times, the International Olympic Committee changed the motto for the Tokyo Games, making it: Faster, Higher, Stronger - Together. The Olympic Motto since 1894 has been Faster, Higher, Stronger. But they added ‘together’ this year to uphold the spirit of human solidarity and true sportsman spirit. And Mutaz Barshim is a live example of what that means.