(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
Doha: Aspire Academy hosted three renowned Olympic athletes yesterday with Jereem Richards, 2017 World Championship gold medalist in the 400m relay, Joe Kovacs, 2016 Olympics shot put silver medalist; and Piotr Lisek, 2017 World Championship pole vaulter silver medalist.
The athletes, who are in Doha to take part in the 2019 IAAF Diamond League, enthusiastically gave Aspire Academy student-athletes a professional training session where the star athletes shared tips, personal stories and led training sessions on ground to showcase professional athletic techniques to the future champions.
Commenting on his visit to Aspire Academy for the first time, US-American shot putter, Joe Kovacs, said; 'It is so cool to see this in person as I have seen numerous athletes train here and post on Instagram. I am delighted to have had the chance to see and use the facilities as well as meet the student athletes who are benefitting from these amazing facilities.
'I don't think there is anywhere else in the world that can boast such amazing facilities for so many different sports. As for the student-athletes at the academy, they are benefiting from the best of the best. I personally think that most important thing for these young student-athletes to see is that even professional have off days and we have to endure the harsh physical training sessions ahead of any championship. Commenting on his presence at the Academy, Jereem Richards, sprinter from Trinidad & Tobago, said; 'It is a great experience to be in Doha and I'm glad to be here once again. The piece of advice that I would like to pass on to student-athletes is to be patient, don't expect immediate results and to be patient and trust the process of growth.
'I'm also very proud to be part of the 2019 IAAF Diamond League and I'm very lucky to have the chance to compete in the stadium where the 2019 IAAF World Championships will be hosted later this year. It is a chance to familiarise myself with the stadium and feel more comfortable when the worlds come here in September.
Commenting on the training session, 12 years old Aspire Academy's student-athlete, Dawi Talal Al-Abdullah said; 'Today I got the unique chance to meet real champions in pole vault, sprints and shot put. I got to spend some quality time with Piotr Lisek, a world class athlete from Poland, and he showed me some great techniques and tricks. They all have thorough experience and we can only take advantage from such opportunities as we are all aspiring to follow in their footsteps in the future.
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