World Championship bronze is pure gold for Samba

Doha, Qatar: Abderrahman Samba was delighted, to say the least, to come up with a bronze medal in the 400m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships in Doha on Monday.

Samba, who has been out of action for a couple of months owing to a back muscle injury, which he revealed only on Tuesday, said he ran only because it was happening in his home country.

“This bronze medal is a gold medal for me. I didn’t expect to win but I ran here because it is a World Championships in Qatar and I wanted to be here,” said Samba, one of the four athletes ever to run 400m hurdles under 47 seconds.

Two of the others – Karsten Warholm and Rai Benjamin — ran with him on Monday and won gold and silver respectively.

Samba's performance was equally impressive since he was coming back from an injury.

Expectations were high as big things were expected from Samba since his dashing run in Paris in 2018 June (46.98), but the 24-year old said he was under no pressure.

“There was no pressure on me whatsoever. I received good support from the Qatari Athletics Federation. I was prepared mentally to run,” said Samba who jogged back from the finish line to the sidelines where he was warmly embraced by HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, the President of Qatar Olympic Committee.

Though it was certain that Samba had suffered an injury, there was no confirmation on that until Monday when Samba himself revealed it.

“I got the injury before the London Diamond League when I was meant to race the 400m flat– a muscle in my back. “It was expected to take 10 to 12 weeks to recover but luckily in nine weeks I recovered and was able to win this medal. I consider this a big achievement.”