Qatar’s most decorated athlete secured a podium finish in his final Olympic appearance, yet the aim to better Tokyo 2020 fell through the cracks.
Mutaz Barshim clinched the bronze medal in the men’s high jump finals on Saturday evening to become the country’s most decorated Olympian in his last appearance at the premier event.
The Tokyo 2020 gold medalist completed his season-best jump of 2.34 meters to win Qatar’s first medal at the ongoing Olympics, before failing to clear 2.36 meters twice.
He then attempted 2.38 meters, a mark well below his best-ever jump of 2.43 meters yet enough to secure gold on the night, but to no avail.
New Zealand’s Hamish Kerr won gold after a thrilling jump-off with USA’s Shelby McEwen, who recorded his best jump of 2.36 meters.
Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi decided to share the gold medal three years ago in Tokyo opting against the tie-breaker.
The bronze medal was the last of what has been a glistening career for Barshim, who bows out with one gold, a couple of silvers and a bronze to his name in four Olympic appearances.
Qatar’s Amir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, congratulated him for a decorated Olympic career describing him as “an inspiration for generations.”
A sub par weekend
Barshim’s swansong, however, was the only positive result for Qatar over the weekend from Paris.
Fares Ibrahim’s bid to retain Olympic gold ended due to a last-minute injury.
The 26-year-old failed three times to lift the 178 kg in snatch, eliminating him from the clean and jerk category in the recently introduced 102 kg class.
Ibrahim said he failed to perform due to an unexpected elbow injury and vowed to bounce back stronger in the next Olympic games.
“This is not the end. I will return to achieve something in Los Angeles,” he told beIN Sports.
Medal hopes also went crashing down as Qatar’s beach volleyball duo of Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan fell in straight sets against Team Norway in the beach volleyball event.
Younousse and Tijan had won bronze in Tokyo and are the reigning Asian champions.
The Qatari pair have cruised to the knock-outs winning every game, before Sweden’s David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig ceased momentum in the sem-final. The Swedish duo went on to win gold.
Equally, at the men’s 400-meter hurdle, as Abderrahman Samba finished in sixth place on Friday evening.
Samba clocked 47.98 seconds, well short of the night’s gold medalist Rai Benjamin, and below the bronze medal mark.
He had previously missed out narrowly on a bronze by just four-hundredths of a second in Tokyo and bounced back to win gold at the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
All other Qatari athletes had already bowed out of their respective competitions before Friday.
Qatar had sent 14 athletes to Paris aiming to better its tally of three medals in Tokyo where both Barshim and Fares won gold, becoming the first Qatari athletes to do so.
