00:00 Next on the dialogue, we meet a high jumping superstar,
00:06 inspiring the next generation of athletes to great heights.
00:10 Hi everyone, I'm Moutaz Barsham,
00:13 track and field athlete, Olympic and world high jump champion.
00:16 Moutaz Esar Barsham was born in Qatar
00:21 and honed his natural abilities working with a legendary Polish pole vaulter.
00:29 His years of hard work were rewarded with world championship and Olympic glory.
00:35 Moutaz, thanks so much for joining us on the dialogue.
00:49 You are very welcome.
00:50 Now, we're here at this amazing Aspire area, aren't we?
00:54 Can you paint a picture of your childhood for us?
00:56 And perhaps tell us when the skill of the high jump first became apparent.
01:00 My father was an athlete and my father was actually the reason why I'm an athlete today.
01:05 Growing up, my father was always on the TV,
01:08 so in the neighborhood, I was sort of popular because of my father and I felt cool.
01:12 So I wanted to be something like him.
01:15 So I started going with him to track, to the training facilities way earlier.
01:18 And I think when I was about nine years old, I started with athletics.
01:22 And later, when I was about 14, 15, I stuck into high jump.
01:26 Now, we're approaching this daunting sight, daunting for someone like me.
01:31 When you look at the technique, it looks graceful, but also very, very difficult.
01:38 What does it take for a human being to jump almost two and a half meters?
01:43 Yeah, well, the thing with high jump, it's like a puzzle.
01:47 There's so much element that goes into it.
01:49 You need to be fast, but fast enough, not too fast, not too slow.
01:53 You need to be flexible, but to a certain level.
01:55 You need to have strength. You need to have hard muscles.
01:59 But of course, you can't go to the gym and start pumping. Then you will be stiff.
02:02 So I would say it's like an art. Of course, talent can help you. It's not the main thing.
02:06 But the thing with high jump, there is no point where you feel like, "Oh, I got it. I mastered it."
02:14 Even for me, I'm still learning for every single jump.
02:17 So in every single year of my career so far, I'm learning new things. I'm learning new techniques.
02:23 I'm learning how my body can cope with different situations and adjusting.
02:27 So there's always something that can be improved.
02:30 Now, your coach, Stanley, means a lot to you, doesn't he?
02:36 I know that relationship has endured since you were 18 years of age.
02:40 Can you tell us a bit about that relationship and how it's helped you?
02:44 Of course, everyone that knows me knows that me and Stanley, our relationship is like father, like son.
02:51 At the beginning, it was terrible. I didn't like him.
02:54 I would call the federation and say, "This coach has got to go. I'm not working with him."
02:58 He'd be waiting at the trainings. I don't show up.
03:01 I would bomb his start.
03:04 But to be honest, one day before the practice, we had a basketball game.
03:11 I was just having the ball dribbling, dunking, and he arrived and I hadn't noticed.
03:17 So he watched me dunking and then he just walked right to me and said,
03:21 "Listen, I've been around this profession all my life. I've never seen any high jumper in the world can do such a jump.
03:29 If you can do the same jumps, the same vertical transfer that into high jump, I think you can jump 240 plus."
03:36 And he said that when my personal best was 214.
03:39 At that time, I don't know how to put that into perspective for you.
03:43 It was almost someone taking you from playing football in the neighborhood to you going to be the top scorer at the world championship.
03:48 So you'd be like, "Really?"
03:50 But he was not joking. He was serious about it.
03:52 So he kept talking to me every single day.
03:55 "Trust me. You're like the rough diamond. We need to shape you.
04:00 You have something very special and I know it. Trust me. Just work with me. Do whatever I want and follow up."
04:06 So he was talking to me constantly. After a week or 10 days, I decided, "You know what? I will do whatever you ask me to do."
04:15 He asked me for one training camp.
04:17 We went to that training camp and from 2 meters and 14, I jumped 225, which is a crazy huge leap.
04:24 That was a national record. I won the Asian Indoor for Seniors and I was just a junior qualified for the world.
04:30 I mean, I was the best in the world for my age, which is the junior level.
04:34 From there, I gained his trust and we became inseparable. So the rest is history.
04:43 Incredible success, obviously, but it must have been difficult times too throughout your career.
04:48 As you reflect back on the highs and the lows, what are you most proud of?
04:52 Through my career, I had a lot of highs and lows.
04:55 I've been having so many bad injuries. One of them was the worst in 2018 when I tore my ACL.
05:02 I twisted my ankles and broke both ligaments.
05:06 It was really terrible. It was like 90% that I would not be able to jump again.
05:12 That was definitely a very low point in my career, not only physically, but also mentally.
05:18 You're not really prepared until something bad like that happens.
05:22 At one moment, you are the best in the world. You're winning. You're making records.
05:26 A few seconds later, you're on a cast. They roll you up in a surgery room.
05:29 You come back and, all of a sudden, you don't know what's next.
05:34 So definitely, there are the lows, but there are also the high moments.
05:38 If you're going to ask me about one specific moment, it's really difficult.
05:42 I will highlight defending my world championship title in Doha in 2019.
05:49 Coming back from a really, really dark place, to be able to come back to the stadium and be at the top of the world
05:56 and defend your title on home soil, that's definitely one of the high moments.
06:05 You've achieved so much. Championship success, Olympic success.
06:09 It sounds like your desire to push yourself remains as strong as ever.
06:14 So what's next?
06:16 If you come to my home, you will never see a single thing of a medal
06:21 or any sort of memorial or any awards or anything of that sort.
06:28 Because I feel like it's very important for me to stay hungry for more.
06:32 While I'm still here, I'm still jumping, still relevant. I want to do as much as possible.
06:36 OK, we achieved something. We celebrated that. Put it in the bag. What's next?
06:40 So with that sort of mentality, you always feel like I'm still here, I'm still there.
06:44 And you need to have a great team around you. Thank God I have that.
06:47 And you need to stay hungry and you need to stay focused and you need to stay dedicated.
06:51 And don't forget why you started. Don't forget the cause, which is very, very difficult year after year.
06:57 The more success you get, there's so much things around it.
07:00 But for me, I consider everything a distraction.
07:02 This interview, for example, is part of the thing that we have to do.
07:07 Or not have to, like you've got to do.
07:10 You've got, of course, social responsibilities. You become such an ambassador for your country.
07:15 I mean, you have teams around you, you have sponsors, you have commitments.
07:19 And with that, it's very easy to forget the main cause and shift it.
07:23 Whether it's like fame, whether it's money, whether it's like a lot of cool things.
07:28 A lot of people make it to a certain level and they're like, you know what?
07:31 I don't want to suffer anymore. I can go up and do anything and make a good living out of that.
07:37 So, you know, they're comfortable.
07:38 And I'm always trying to put myself in a situation that I'm not being really comfortable.
07:44 Keeping yourself uncomfortable.
07:46 Exactly. Keeping myself uncomfortable to stay hungry for more.
07:49 That sounds like a great message.
07:51 One that I know has inspired millions of people around the world.
07:53 Mutaz, thanks so much for joining us.
07:55 Thank you very much. Appreciate that.
07:56 I appreciate that.
07:56 (upbeat music)
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