BEIJING: Saudi triple jumper Osamah Alshanqiti won the first gold medal in the Olympic history of the Kingdom with a world record-breaking jump of 15.37 meters in the Paralympics Games yesterday.
“I am happy, I am really, really happy because I made this on the last jump,” said the 32-year-old who was extremely excited about his performance after defeating Ukraine jumper Ivan Kytsenko, who was in the lead after the first five jumps.
“I do not have any special tactics and I just do it step by step with patience. The fifth jump is the key jump in my whole competition, and the last one is the explosion of my force. I had a ‘special number’, 16.30m, in my training, that’s why I am so confident today, though I didn’t jump very well in the first few rounds.”
“Osamah is a strong and serious man. He is serious with everything in life. He loves the triple jump,” said his coach Faiz Alshehri. “Osamah trained very hard. To prepare for the Paralympics, he trained in Tunisia and Malaysia to adapt himself to the different conditions. I hope he can also get a good result in the long jump.”
“My whole country will celebrate together with me. The gold is for the whole country, not for myself alone. Today’s victory definitely gives me much confidence for my next event, the long jump,” said Alshanqiti.
Alshanqiti was already a triple jump and long jump athlete when he sustained an injury to his eye in an accident in 2000. Alshanqiti was born in 1976. He lives in Madinah with his sister and is unmarried. His father is dead and his mother lives in Riyadh. For the past decade he has been a member of the Al-Ansar Club in Madinah where he trains under Algerian coach Ali Hakoumi.
— With input from Naif Muhammad
