05 Dec 2019
Madrid, 5 December 2019. Aspire Academy graduate, Olympic medalist and high jump world champion Mutaz Essa Barshim was named “2019 Arab Athlete of the Year" and awarded in a ceremony presented by the Spanish newspaper AS, taking place in Madrid on Wednesday.
The Qatari, who most recently won the gold medal at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha in October after clearing 2.37m, received the award from Sheikh Dr Khalid bin Thani bin Abdallah al-Thani, board member of Prisa Media Group, the owners of AS Newspaper. The ceremony was also attended by the Spanish Minister of Culture and Sport, Jose Guerrero and Qatar's Ambassador to Spain, Abdullah bin Ibrahim al-Hamar.
In a report on the Qatari champion, AS called Mutaz Qatar's 'High Bird', describing him as an adventurous figure. To date, Barshim won two Olympic medals, the first was a bronze in London 2012 and the second silver in Rio 2016. He is a two-times world champion, after winning the high jump gold medal in London 2017 and retained the title in Doha 2019.
In 2017, Mutaz Essa Barshim was named IAAF male Athlete of the Year in Monaco, which completed a remarkable year in which Mutaz went through the season unbeaten and won gold at the World Championships and was also crowned “Asian Athlete of the Year”.