What is a world record for?

History hides personal rewards - popularity, money - but, if you want to go further, posterity, a record alone does not work. Dalilah Muhammad (New York, 1990) discovered it last July when at the United States Des Moines Championship she became the fastest woman to run about 400 meters hurdles (52.20 seconds), exceeded a record that had been 16 years in the books, and when he returned home he discovered empty. "I thought a huge sense of success would invade me, an 'Oh my God, everything is amazing', but in reality what I thought most times was. ' And now that?' And I don't say it on the positive side, I don't want to say that I already thought about new goals. I say it on the negative side, I could only think 'How am I going to motivate myself now?' ”, He recognized the 'New York Times'.

And, of course, that's how he needed a break, stop with his workouts.

In his last test before the World Cup, the Zurich Diamond League meeting in August could only be third and he arrived in Doha as an unknown. Maybe he even lost gold to fellow Sydney McLaughlin . But it was the opposite. In the World Cup final, Muhammad not only won, he also lowered his own record mark by a few tenths (52.16 seconds). "I did not expect. This means a lot to me. I wanted the World Cup so hard that I ended up lowering the world record. I felt that Sydney was approaching me around the ninth fence and I could only give everything I had, ”said Muhammad, who in the process, in the last weeks before the championship, understood what the meaning of his deed was.

Why a world record?

For example, to claim the values ​​of each. Muhammad is the daughter of Askia , a liberal imam who works for the Islamic Affairs department of the New York City Council, and since living under the spotlight she has wanted to show her way of living the Muslim faith. For example, you have never used and will use the hijab. «I don't like being told that I am not the typical Muslim. I believe that there are millions of believers in Islam throughout the world and we can all express our religion in whatever way we consider, ”Muhammad told The Guardian after harshly criticizing the decisions of the Donald Trump government , among other things.

No one could foresee that it would end up in those estates when it began.

At age seven, he participated in a neighborhood club race at Roy Williams Park, a 300-meter test, and he was not even in the top three. That did not discourage him. Absolutely. He pointed to the same club for answers to his defeat and discovered that he might not be a figure in speed, but the fences are something else. «The sprinters will not agree with me, but I think that in speed the most important thing is to have genetics. For speed you have to have a natural ability: either you are born with it or nothing. On the fences it is different, ”said Muhammad, whose next objective will be to revalidate his gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics in Tokyo and continue to insist on what he believes.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • sports
  • World Athletics Championship
  • more sport

World AthleticsFraser-Pryce, the Jamaican queen of the 'sprint', takes gold in the 100 meters

Athletics World Championship The sequels of the women's marathon: "It ran beyond the limit"

AthleticsRussian athletes will have to compete again as neutral in Doha