Mutaz Essa Barshim IAAF Diamond League

Qatari hero: Mutaz Essa Barshim – IAAF Diamond League, One Month to go

Qatari hero: Mutaz Essa Barshim – IAAF Diamond League, One Month to go

Monaco – April 12, 2013: With exactly one month to go before the start of the2013 IAAF Diamond League we put the spotlight on a man who is expected to be one of the stars at the opening meeting in Doha, Qatar, on 10 May: high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim.

As a country of barely a quarter-of-a-million people, Qatar has precious few sporting heroes so it was no surprise that, upon his return to Doha with a London 2012 Olympic Games bronze medal, high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim was feted by the government and the Qatari people.

The extent of his rewards the 21-year-old will discretely not reveal but the medal was not entirely unexpected.

The IAAF Diamond League is composed of 14 of the best invitational track and field meetings in the world. The meetings are spread across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the USA, and compose the top tier of the IAAF’s global one-day meeting competition structure.

This series of 14 meetings, which began in 2010, showcases 32 event disciplines which are carefully distributed amongst the meetings.

In each discipline there is a “Diamond Race” with points available throughout the 14 meeting season. Winners of each Diamond Race receive a40,000 USD cash prize and a spectacular Diamond Trophy.

2013 IAAF Diamond League Calendar

Doha, QAT – 10 May

Shanghai, CHN – 18 May

New York, USA – 25 May

Eugene, USA – 31 May-1 Jun

Rome, ITA – 6 Jun

Oslo, NOR – 13 Jun

Birmingham, GBR – 30 Jun

Lausanne, SUI – 4 Jul

Paris, FRA – 6 Jul

Monaco, MON – 19 Jul

London, GBR – 26-28 Jul

Stockholm, SWE – 22 Aug

Zürich, SUI – 29 Aug

Brussels, BEL – 6 Sep. —- IAAF