Coya at W Doha organises an event to welcome Mutaz Essa Barshim back home after his big win at Tokyo Olympics 2021.

It’s been frantic two weeks for Mutaz Essa Barshim, the Qatari high jump star, since he added the only medal that was missing from his cabinet — the Olympic gold. Barshim’s win also emerged as the symbol of sportsmanship around the world after he and his Italian rival and friend Gianmarco Tamberi shared the gold after both were locked at 2.37m in the competition.

“Can we have two golds?,” Barshim’s question to the referee, and the celebration thereafter by the two gold medallists won accolades around the world.

Coya at W Doha recently organised a homecoming event for the gold star to welcome him back home with warmth, garlands, bouquets and applauds. Brimming cameras, socialites and media only to get a glimpse of the gold and its achiever as Barshim entered the venue. Barshim is grounded enough to not take success to his head — rather enjoys every moment of it. He lets his medal to his fans who come and ask for a photograph and that has won not only our heart but everyone who got a chance to interact with him.

Tall and humble, Barshim spoke to FACT in an exclusive conversation about his shared friendship with Tamberi and how he unwinds.

“Tamberi is a very close friend of mine, even outside the track. So, when he was passing through a tough phase of his life, of course I wanted to talk to him and wanted to be there for him like any friend would. So, just talking to him really helped him out. And I’m glad for it. Similarly, when I had my injury and surgery, he was always on the phone with me — just trying to motivate and keep me positive,” says Barshim.

When Barshim’s not on track, how does he unwind? He responds, “I’m a very boring person — sitting home, watching cartoons, I love cartoons.. Japanese animation, a lot of movies and shows, that’s how I unwind. I don’t go out very often. Its either my house, my friend’s house or my family’s house. That’s it.”

Talking about his most memorable fan moment since his gold win, he says,” I really can’t come up with one moment because there were many. Once I won gold.. everybody came out — they were happy. Everybody was sharing with me their stories. So many persons said they cried. So, it was a lot, I can’t take a specific moment out. The whole journey was amazing.”