Malaika Mihambo
High-flyer in athletics
Malaika Mihambo was already a sports enthusiast as a childShe joined a sports club at the age of three, for which she still competes today. At first first it was ballet and judo, but then she she at the age of eleven at a athletics vacation program - and went straight into regular training. After the usual all-around specializes specialized Mihambo specialized in sprinting and jumping at the age of 16. A good decision, as the first titles soon followed.the first titles titles at national and international competitions. The high point so far Mihambo's career with victory at the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo. In Paris 2024, she won silver with a distance of 6.98 meters despite the persistent effects of a coronavirus infection.
AAway from the competition burns Mihambo for the sport: with her own club, Malaikas Herzsprung e.V., she enables children to free membership of an athletics club. To further motivate children to get more exercise, she published Mihambo training videos with easy exercises during the corona pandemic on YouTube. But the athlete is not letting other social grievances go unaddressed either: she repeatedly speaks out about Malaika Mihambo against racism not only in sport and appeals also appeals to civil society.
A personal record of 7.30 meters in the long jump, world champion with 6.98 meters in Doha 2019, exactly seven meters for Olympic gold in Tokyo - Mihambo is a high-flyer in all competitions in the truest sense of the word. Because the gap to the competition is often large, Mihambo ranked first in the world in the long jump for over 180 weeks. The awards for Sportswoman of the Year 2019, 2020 and 2021 show her impressive impressive booth in German sport - and beyond. This is because there were hardly any competitions in 2020, the year of coronavirus, and the awards are hardly based on sporting success. Nevertheless Mihambo more than deserved the award, as she was honored above all for her social commitment to her club. Confident of victory, focused and yet (apart from the seven meters or so in flight) down-to-earth: Malaika Mihambo is the faceof German athletics.
Published in October 2023 Mihambo's book "Spring dich frei: Mein Weg zu Achtsamkeit und innerinner strength" published by EMF Verlag. In this biography, she traces her path from a difficult childhood without a father to her greatest sporting triumph. This story is particularly enriching for the reader because Mihambo does not hold back her thoughts in all these steps, but rather but opens up emotionally at every moment. And also addresses some problems in an unembellished way: whether about challengeschallenges challenges at competitions during her period, racist hostility at school to today's competitions or admitting her own weakness in times of triumph in times of triumph - Mihambo is approachable and honest with the reader, but above all with herself.
Mihambos enthusiasm for the movement is also reflected in her social commitment: with her association "Malaikas Herzsprung e.V.", which she founded in July 2020, she enables primary school children to join an athletics club free of charge for at least one year. It is important to her to give children not only the opportunity to exercise and enjoy sport, but also theopportunity to have a balance to school in the club. A point that Mihambo also from her own experience important from her own experience at school: "The club creates other social contexts in which youfeel more comfortable than at school". In addition, the club does not focus on competition in the foregroundbut on personal development.
But at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, training at the club was was not possible, and exercise in lockdown especially for children in short supply - and for Mihambo herself. That's why she started a video series on YouTube in which she in the livestream at home exercises and takes childrenn by the hand. In a total of over 50 videos Mihambo thereby not only the joy of movement into the living rooms of numerous familiesbut also provides food for thought and social appeals.
Birthday | February 3, 1994 |
Place of birth | Heidelberg |
club | TSV Oftersheim |
height | 171 cm |
Instagram followers | 204.000 |
