Mutaz Essa Barshim had been Qatar's most promising athlete since he was a teenager, but on Tuesday he took his potential to a new level by winning the high-jump bronze at the London Olympics.
The 21-year-old finished in a tie for third place with Canada’s Derek Drouin and Britain’s Robbie Grabarz after they produced leaps of 2.29m, giving Qatar only its fourth medal in the Olympics, and second in London.
The fact that he was only 85% fit according to his own admission because of a spinal stress fracture makes his feat all the more creditable. He had missed the Samsung Diamond League meeting earlier this year in Doha and headed to London unsure if he would be fit enough to compete in the gruelling event.
No wonder, then, that he was candid enough to admit that the bronze felt better than a gold.
“This bronze is better than a gold medal,” Barshim said. “I was not sure (of competing) when I came here because I was injured, and in qualifying I did not do very well. But I tried to stay calm.”
“My injury was in my spinal cord, it was a stress fracture and it was serious. I’m not really fit now. I’m OK - 85 percent.”
Barshim’s success is the biggest proof yet that the Aspire Academy’s long-term plans are producing the desired results. If the youngster is able to stay injury-free for the rest of his career he can easily take part in the next two or three Olympic Games where he can better his London achievement.
By then, hopefully, there would be a whole array of highly competent athletes lining up for Qatar and challenging the best in the business.
A balancing act for Mursi
Egypt launched airstrikes against Islamic militants yesterday in the Sinai Peninsula for the first time since 1973 in a move that could increase tensions in the country and pose problems for new President Mohamed Mursi.
The use of helicopter gunships and missiles marked a sharp escalation in the fight against the militants who have become increasingly active in the mountainous peninsula bordering Israel and Gaza and comes in the wake of a surprise attack on the Egyptian army that resulted in the deaths of 16 soldiers earlier in the week.
Mursi sacked the governor of the north Sinai region following the incident and appointed a new intelligence chief, Mohamed Shehata, sending the previous chief, Mourad Mwafi, into retirement.
Other changes in the security set-up are also in the offing, and the world would be certainly watching how the situation plays out in the days and months to come.
The militants, who want to destroy Israel, have stepped up their actions along the isolated desert frontier since an uprising toppled Egypt’s autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak last year.
Mursi, himself an Islamist, albeit a moderate one, has tried to allay Israeli concerns with promises to bring the region back under government control. Pleasing the still-powerful army, who want the militants crushed, and his constituents, who sympathise with the Islamic Brotherhood, will certainly prove a difficult balancing act. In fact, his success as the country’s President probably depends on how well he fares on this front.