Gulf Times
Aspire Academy on
Monday held an event
attended by student atheletes,
coaches,
sport scientists and staff to celebrate
the achievements of Owaab
Barrow at the recent Youth
Olympic Games which took
place in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Barrow clinched gold in the
men’s 110m hurdles event at the
Games. One of three athletes
representing Qatar in Argentine,
Barrow won the race with a personal
best time of 13.17 seconds.
Barrow’s achievements reflect the strong cooperation and
partnership that exists between
the Qatar Athletics Federation
(QAF) and Aspire Academy.
Now in its third year, this partnership
is designed to improve
athletic performance and provide
sportsmen with access to
the world-class expertise, facilities
and training opportunities
available at Aspire Academy.
During Monday’s event, Lee
Christopher, coach for Sprints,
Hurdles and Relay at Aspire
Academy and Barrow’s coach,
took the lead in describing Barrow’s
journey and progress during
the three years from 2015 to 2018.
Christopher said, “From the
very start, I could see that Owaab
had great potential and exhibited
many of the core skills
needed to succeed at this level.
His positivity, determination
and daily focus to overcome injuries
that he has sustained is
exemplary.”
The celebration event featured
a Q&A interview with Barrow
during which he described
his experiences and expressed
his utmost gratitude and appreciation
to Aspire and the QAF.
Barrow said, “Of course, determination
and focus are very
important. This is true not only
in terms of training, but also extends
to managing sleep cycles
and a sticking to a strict diet. All
these factors affect an athlete’s
performance.”
Commenting on his future
prospects, he said, “I want to
make the most of my opportunities
and compete with the best
in the world at the 2019 IAAF
World Championships in Doha.
This is one of my key goals.”
In 2020, the 17-year-old student
athlete will still be able
to compete in the IAAF World
U20 Championships in Nairobi,
Kenya. And if he maintains his
current progress and rate of success,
he could potentially compete
in the 2020 Summer Olympics
in Tokyo, Japan.