Bronze better than gold for Barshim

For Qatari high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim, the bronze he won on a rainy night at the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday feels like gold. The 21-year-old defied the odds by battling a crippling back injury but still held his nerve to bag a bronze against a field that included Russia's 2008 Olympic champion Andrey Silnov and American world champion Jesse Williams. "This bronze is better than a gold medal," Barshim said yesterday with the Qatar flag draped around his slim shoulders. "I was not sure (of competing) when I came here (to London) because I was injured, and in qualifying I did not do very well. But I tried to stay calm," he recalled. "My injury was in my spinal chord, it was a stress fracture and it was serious. I'm not really fit now. I'm OK - 85 percent," Barshim said after picking up Qatar's medal number two at the London Olympic Games. Last Tuesday, Qatari shooter Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah won a bronze in the men's skeet final at the Royal Artillery Barracks, "This is the fourth medal for my country and I am very proud and I feel very excited," he said. Qatar on Wednesday celebrated its best ever Olympic Games haul as Barshim finished with a bronze medal after a tense battle at the Olympic Stadium. It was Qatar's fourth bronze in Olympic Games history. Qatar's Mohamed Suleiman won a medal in the men's athletics 1500m in 1992 (Barcelona) and weightlifter Saif Assad picked up a medal at the Sydney Games in 2000. "I am so happy that I have won an Olympics medal," Barshim said. "I have worked so hard for this. It was really tough competition," Barshim, who jumped 2.37m in February this year at the Asian indoor championships in Hangzhou, said. Soon after clinching the bronze, Barshim dedicated the medal to the Emir, His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and the Heir Apparent, His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The Qatari produced a slick performance in the first three rounds of the high jump final, clearing 2.20, 2.25 and 2.29 with ease. However, Barshim couldn't clear the bar raised to 2.33 and had to settle for a bronze. Russia's Ivan Ukhov won gold followed by America's Erik Kynard who took silver. Ukhov, 26, this year's top jumper, secured victory with a leap of 2.38 metres he cleared on the sixth attempt. Canada's Derek Drouin and Britain's Robbie Grabarz tied with Barshim to complete a rare set of high jumpers winning a bronze medal each. When the medals were presented yesterday, all three bronze medallists stood on a crowded lower step of the medal podium at the victory ceremony, an occurrence that has only happened three times before in athletics at the Games. Barshim didn't mind it one bit. "We are all brothers and we are one family," he said on sharing the podium. When asked why he started competing in high jump, Barshim said: "I was watching it on TV and I did not like running but I liked jumping. It felt like the most fun to do." Fellow bronze winner Grabarz said: "A bronze medal, I'm over the moon. If someone had said I'd get a medal at the 2012 Olympics I would not have believed it. I've been wasting time not applying myself. My parents have given me a hard time and telling me off. She (my mum) is proud of me." He added: "I would like to give thanks to the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund, who have supported me. I was slightly miffed (laughs). That I've got a bronze medal is incredible. I've come from nowhere. Who is this kid with a medal round his neck? It all seems slightly surreal. I knew I had the talent to achieve it but to make it true is incredible, it hasn't sunk in." The Briton explained: "I didn't fail the bar in my two jumps (after not attempting the first height of two metres 20cm). I saw that medal and thought it could be mine and I got excited." On three people sharing the bronze position on the podium, Grabraz said: "It was always going to be tight for space up there." Canada's Drouin said: "I don't think I have ever been in a tie that was so big (three people). We kind of predicted that with the increments being so steep that there might be a tie." On being at the London 2012 Olympics, Drouin said: "I didn't know how big the stadium was until I did my victory lap. It was awesome. My two sisters and my parents were here and the flag that I carried round had been signed by all my friends to say good luck." From : Qatar Olympic Committee