Al-Qalam 
The Hifz student scooped first place in the World Continental Tour Silver in Belgium. He also took first place in the World Continental Tour Challenger in France. Nabeelah Shaikh spoke to him.
South Africa’s star high jumper, Usaamah Vally, is just a few steps away from reaching his Olympic dreams – he recently excelled while participating in various competitions around Europe.
Vally, with his 1.89m height is amongst South Africa’s top five high jumpers.
The 22-year-old sports science student from Durban participated in eight European countries, between June to August. He participated in the World Continental Tour Silver in Belgium where he scooped first place and at the World Continental Tour Challenger in France where he was also placed first.
He was placed second in Austria, third in Germany and ranked fourth and fifth in Sweden and Belgium at different competitions.
Vally’s athletics journey began at the Orient Islamic School back in 2015 when he first took up the sport. From participating at the school level, he excelled provincially and internationally. By 2018, he had participated in his first international competition.
Vally also competed in Europe last year.
“It was a lot more taxing compared to how it had been last year. Last year was good and competitive but this year, going up against the top 50 in the world, and trying to solidify my place within the top 50 to top 10 rankings has been tough,” said Vally.
Vally says the training that goes into competing at such a high level, is quite intense.
“The level of competition and the amount of work that goes into these competitions is strict. They monitor your performance throughout the season. There are 3500 registered high jumpers across the world and for you to compete at any of these meetings you need to be in the top 50 in the world. It’s very competitive and I was able to get myself into the top 50 early in the season and solidify my place into getting into these meets,” said Vally.
He says this is his pathway to competing in the Olympics.
“The whole point of this is to contribute to getting enough points to get into the Olympics. The Olympics is based on three things: you either qualify according to the qualifying standards, you get in through ranking points, or you get an invitation from the Olympic committee on the basis that you’ve won nationally and you’ve won international big meets. I was able to solidify my place internationally, continentally, and nationally as one of the best high jumpers in South Africa,” said Vally.
Currently in South Africa, Vally ranks fourth in the senior division and second in the under-23 division.
“I’m not far from reaching my Olympic dream. I need to go into it strongly next season. From last year to this year, it has been a big step up for me and an improvement. This year has been a stepping stone in my preparations for greater things. I feel like I have the opportunities and abilities to do it next year. It’s going to take the next level of training for me to get there. It takes the highest level of competition, training, and dedication into the sport and I will have to put the effort into achieving the Olympic goal,” said Vally.
He said he also has his goals set on participating at theAfrican Senior Championships.
“I want to participate in other competitions too… that I want to use as stepping stones to the Olympics. I have a couple of things that I have lined up in preparation for making it into the Olympics and I am confident I will get there eventually,” said Vally.
As Vally works towards the Olympics, he said his personal message to the youth is that each and every person has the opportunity to create an array of successful opportunities in their life; it just takes seeing a bigger picture.
“Being able to get to this level took me years of training, hardships, bad seasons, and sacrifices. In the end, reaping the benefits of being able to travel and compete in multiple countries makes everything much more worth it. Being in high school I never saw this as a stepping stone to the vast opportunities that are available,” said Valley.
He said he was thankful to his personal sponsors and Al-Salam for showcasing his talents .
“I hope that my European achievement can be of some motivation to the younger generation who don’t believe that they are able to get there,” said Vally.
Vally is also at the end of completing his hifz at the Orient Islamic School. He said he was grateful to the school for allowing him to complete his hifz there which he started when he was a high school pupil at Orient.
