– It doesn’t work to live like this – NRK Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule

– I was 14 years old and very fat. I don’t do any sports. I just sat at home and played FIFA on the PlayStation.

25-year-old Omar Shiha tells NRK.

In March, he did what no Norwegian has managed in 28 years: He qualified for the Olympics in boxing.

– It was the best feeling in my life, says Omar Shiha to NRK.

But when Shiha was in his early teens, perhaps not many people looked at him and thought he would become an Olympic athlete.

– I ate a lot of unhealthy food and such. And chocolate. I was interested in football, and tried to play it, but I was a bit fat so I couldn’t play.

Shiha is merciless with himself and who he was as a 14-year-old. He says that he weighed 95 kilos. Then he was told by his parents that he was too fat.

– It doesn’t feel good when you’re big and young. There are many things you cannot do. I couldn’t play football. You have XXL as a 14-year-old. It’s a bit embarrassing. Do you understand?, says Shiha questioningly.

The brutal message from his parents made him think. He was unable to be social with his friends who were more active than him.

– So I decided that it can’t be like that. Because of course I couldn’t do it at the time, and I’ll be 20 years old. I can’t weigh 120 kg, it will be… It doesn’t work to live like this, says Shiha about the thoughts he had when he took action.

Boxing works

He tried his hand at both basketball and football before he finally found what eleven years later would send him straight to the Olympics in Paris. Namely boxing.

At first it was just a form of exercise to get a little healthier. He turned up at the boxing club and trained by hitting bags.

But Shiha said that the trainers immediately started to notice him.

– My coach actually said: “You have some talent. Do you want to go to battle?”

Omar Shiha didn’t mind praying, and suddenly he was up and running.

He lost weight, and Shiha says that he lost a total of 95 to 70 kilos as a result of the boxing training. In addition, he won fight after fight in the boxing ring.

– I surprised my father when I cut the weight. After two or three months I saw him again. He is at work all the time, so we don’t see each other very often. He was… “You look good” and that’s what he said.

Tribute before the Olympics

Omar Shiha was born in Norway. His father is from Egypt, while his mother has an Egyptian background, but was born and raised in Norway.

When Shiha was six years old, the family decided to move to Egypt, where her father got a job as a doctor. But when he was 19, he and his mother moved back to Norway.

Then Omar Shiha had visited the junior national boxing team in Egypt, but when he came to Norway he was told by his parents that he had to complete an education. So he took a bachelor’s degree in economics at BI, before he picked up the gloves as a 22-year-old and found Oslo Boxing Club.

And after three years of hard training, he is now ready for the Olympics in Paris.

His trainer Max Mankowitz, who previously trained the boxer Cecilia Brækhus, is clear that the most difficult job is done. Because the path to a medal, when he is among the 16 who are qualified for the Olympic tournament, is short.

– If he wins two games in the Olympics, he will have a medal, says Mankowitz.

– What is Omar good at?

– He is extremely fast. Extremely fast. One of the fastest in his weight class in the world. Relatively good tactically, and then he has a good psyche.

The last time a Norwegian was in the Olympics as a boxer was in 1996 in the Atlanta Olympics. Then the Norwegian hope was called Jørn Johnsen, he was knocked out in the second round that time.

But when Omar Shiha steps into the ring in Paris on July 29, the goal is to recreate what the Norwegian Otto von Porat did in the same city in 1924: Win Olympic gold in super heavyweight (+92 kilos).

– He was also in super heavyweight. He managed to get gold, so we’ll see, says Omar Shiha and smiles slyly.

– There will be an Olympic medal soon. Just wait, he concludes.