Aspire in the World Fellows Book - 2023

/113 Gianmarco Tamberi: In the beginning, he was like a superhero. Since 2010 when I met him, I said, “Wow. I will never get there.” Honestly, as a human being, when you speak to somebody like that, you think wow. But he’s really humble, and finally he’s like you, he tries to help you in the competition. I’m really happy to see him. He helps you during competition to grow. He helps you to understand things because he’s also one year older than me. He’s passed through what I passed through one year before. He helped me a lot during my journey. I was happy to have this kind of help.I’ve always been competitive, always wanting to be better. I can go today to do some training to improve myself. If I’m not happy with the result, I know that I will always come back because I always have something that keeps me going. I’m really grateful for it, even to this day. Mutaz Barshim: Sometimes in sports, things we go through make us who we are. I have a great team around me. My coach, my physio, my doctor, my family, my partners, of course Aspire Academy and everyone in Doha. I grew up with the mentality of knowing that my biggest driver is myself. I think of things around me only as obstacles or distractions, and other times what I like most are things that make me better, including my competitors. We competed in the same competition, but he’s not really my target. My target is the bar, trying to beat myself. All things that are around it are only a bonus; I want to have everyone competing. I want to see the rush and feel the adrenaline. With thatmentality andmindset, I just knew we need to elevate each other because as he said, we have so much in common. We analyze the sport, and we have the same passion. I help my friend and he helps me to take it to the next level which benefits both of us. With that mindset, I believe that we both can go to higher places, and we can still be competitive between us. We always want to be better, but I think the best way to do that is focusing on ourselves. These things that you’ve got in common arewhat makes the relationship and friendship. By howyou’re talking here and the videoswe’ve seen, you have completely different personalities. At the beginning, what did you think of Mutaz? Gianmarco Tamberi: July 2016, one month to the Olympic games in Rio. Last competition before the Olympics. It was the Diamond League and I was in the best shape ever. I’m still searching for that shape. I won the competition with 2.39m. All the best athletes were there. Everybody that jumped in the final was there. And after 2.39m, that was the national record, still my personal best, trying to attempt 2.41m, something happened. I remember my ankle twisted inside, and I immediately understood it was really bad. I didn’t have the chance to compete in the Olympics. You are in the best moment of your life, and then all your dreams finished. Just 30 days before the Olympics, and it was really difficult to go through it. I thank my wife because she was close to me and she helped me to wake up in the morning with tears in my eyes. Then after a while, after one year of working and two surgeries, I did my first competition. It was Diamond League in Paris 2017. I was really excited to compete after one year of physiotherapy, surgery and crying. I remember I was really feeling the You both had serious injuries, separated by two years, and you helped each other in that process. Let’s start with you Gianmarco, howdidMutaz help you? energy. I need to compete and challenge myself to see where I am. I went out there; all my opponents were there, and they were happy to see me because I was back after one year, and I remember they were clapping for me. 2.15m, first attempt missed, second attempt missed, third attempt missed. Three attempts and I get home without any good attempt, and it was terrible. You believe that something is possible, but then, you look at yourself in the mirror, and you see just no way. It’s just your dream. There is no chance to get it. I remember I get back in the hotel. I closed the door, and I start crying in the bed alone. I didn’t want to talk to anybody. My father was trying to text me. I didn’t answer anybody. I didn’t answer my wife, my mother. I remember Mutaz came to my door. He knocked, and I didn’t answer. He said, I know you’re there. I say, please go away. I don’t want to talk. He said, let me in just one second. So, I tried to take my strength and open the door even if I didn’t want to. I just wanted to stay by myself, but I knew that he could help me. I opened the door, and we started speaking for a while. One hour, I don’t remember, maybe it was four hours. I know what he told me, but honestly, right now is not what the important thing is. The important thing of this story is that he came there to be with me. STAR CHAT