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Michael Phelps, Kelly
Holmes and the Iraq football team were the prominent
performers at this summer’s Olympic Games, but the UAE
also struck gold for the first time
The XVII Olympics will
be remembered for a number of reasons.
Primarily it will be
remembered as the Games that – until the spectacular
Opening Ceremony – were always in doubt. Whether it was
security or construction concerns, the pre-event
publicity centred on Greece’s shortcomings but the
country that gave birth to the modern Olympiad proved
its doubters wrong and delivered the most memorable
Games of all time.
While politicians,
officials and journalists speculated, the people that
make the Games special – the athletes – put the
finishing touches to their four-year plans to represent
their countries on the biggest stage of them all.
One of those athletes
had more on his shoulders than most. Not only was he his
country’s greatest prospect for a medal, he carried the
dreams of a region determined to make an impact on the
sporting world.
Sheikh Ahmad Mohammed
Hasher Al Maktoum departed Dubai as favourite for a
shooting gold having won the World Championship the
previous year but form goes out of the window at Olympic
Games, which he knew all too well.
But two weeks later,
Sheikh Ahmad, a friendly and warm member of the highly
respected Dubai Ruling family, returned a hero with gold
– the first ever won by an athlete from the United Arab
Emirates.
He was afforded the sort
of welcome normally reserved for world leaders and he
was paraded through the streets of his hometown, which
were lined by tens of thousands of people from across
Dubai’s cosmopolitan community.
With the magnitude of
his achievements still sinking in, Sheikh Ahmad is still
enjoying his moment of glory.
He said: “It is a great
honour to have won an Olympic gold for the UAE. But the
thing that made me happy the most was that Sheikh
Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum came personally to greet
me at the airport. It was a great honour for me, I did
not even dream of such a thing happening.
“This medal is for the
people of the UAE, I did it for them.”
Sheikh Mohammed told the
huge crowd gathered at Dubai International Airport that
Sheikh Ahmad’s gold made him “very proud” and described
it as a “great victory for the UAE”.
“When he qualified for
the final I knew he could achieve something special and
he did.”
Sheikh Ahmad not only
won gold, he won it in style to underline his caliber as
one of his sport’s all time greats. In the qualifiers,
he set a scintillating new Olympic record of hitting 144
targets out of 150 attempts on the first day. Silver
medalist was India’s Rajyavardhan Singh who lies second
behind the UAE sharpshooter in the world rankings.
Sheikh Ahmad’s
achievements have been well recognised by his country.
UAE Ruler Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan has rewarded
him with Dhs5 million, while the National Olympic
Committee handed him Dhs1 million.
While the cash rewards
are richly deserved, it is the other accolades received
that will be touch his heart most. Sheikh Khalifa Bin
Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy
Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Services, bestowed on
him the Order of the Union, the Al Ittihad Medal.
Sheikh Khalifa expressed
profound happiness over the achievement and expressed
the hope that other UAE youths would follow suit.
Etisalat has unveiled
special telephone calling calls of Dhs30 and Dhs60
denominations and Emirates Post has released a special
stamp of commemoration.
After such a momentous
summer which was the tip of an incredible career, there
seems little left to achieve. Sheikh Ahmed has already
said he will retire and few will argue with his decision
to enjoy life away from the sport, but many of his fans
will be hoping he will reverse his decision.
“It’s such a huge
achievement. Not just for me, but for my country and its
people,” he said. “The feeling of being an Olympic
Champion is yet to sink in.”
Over the years, Sheikh
Ahmad’s drive for Olympic gold has seen him make many
personal sacrifices. He has felt let down at time by the
country’s sports authorities but it has not stopped him
from picking up three World Championship Gold medals and
gold in the World Cup.
Despite all the
doubters, he concluded pre-Athens that his biggest enemy
was himself. If he could overcome his own doubts, the
world could be his oyster.
“I really did not have
anything to prove to anyone. I just needed to focus and
concentrate on the duty towards my country and its
people. The biggest enemy turned out to be myself, and
the tremendous pressure I had put on myself through
qualification for Athens after the World Championship in
New Dehli.
“There even came a time
when I doubted my own technique. It was basically two
things that kept me going during those tough days: the
pressure that was building up in me and the desire to
dream big for the UAE.”
But those demons were
obviously been blown away by the windy conditions
awaiting competitors at the Marko Polo Olympic Shooting
Centre.
“The conditions were the
same for all the shooters. I had to gear myself mentally
to eliminate all such thoughts and maintain my focus on
what I had worked for through the years. I had to get
the first 10 doubles right. That was the main aim when I
went in. I was not nervous, just focused on getting it
right. I couldn’t think of anything else. I had only the
targets in mind. Everything else was shut off.
“I was aware that I was
the one for the gold medal even before the final round
started. I just kept to the task at hand. It is very
much like a secret. Once you breach it, you just go on
and on.”
His score of 189 tied
the record set by Mark Russell in Atlanta in 1996.
While his hard work is
undoubtedly the key to his Olympic success, Sheikh Ahmad
is quick to deflect the praise from him.
“My father, Sheikh
Mohammed bin Hasher Al Maktoum, has been my inspiration.
It is my father and mother who have supported me at
every step. It all goes back to my father. He has been
my motivation and I would have been at zero if it had
not been for him.
“I spoke to my father
and mother as soon as I won and they could not wait for
me to get home. It was very emotional for us all.”
Sheikh Ahmad was also
quick to praise the leaders of the UAE.
 
“I owe my medal to their
wise and focused leadership. I want to place on record
my congratulations to Sheikh Zayed, Sheikh Khalifa, and
Lieutenant General Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan,
Abu Dhabi Deputy Crown Prince and Chief of Staff of the
Armed Forces.
“I also want to thank
the wise leadership of His Highness Sheikh Maktoum Bin
Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of
the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and General Sheikh
Mohammed.”
The gold medalist may be
drawing the curtains on his own illustrious career, but
he is determined to become a role model for others to
follow.
“The children have to
start now. They must start training tomorrow,” he said,
looking ahead to the next Olympics in Beijing in 2008.
“I can stop shooting at
any time and then what? Who is going to carry the name
earned by this country? Who is going to replace me?
“It was my dream and the
dream of my country that I achieve a gold medal at the
Olympics. I set out to pursue this dream and realized it
after eight long years. And now I sit back and think…
now what? I wish there was something higher to achieve.
I love challenges, and wish I can do something more for
the sport and for my country.
“But I don’t want to
take any further responsibility either for defending the
country in this sport or bringing in further glory. If
the UAE wants more medals, then we have to get our act
together and start preparing our children in specific
individual sports.
“We need a shooting
school as soon as possible. Without a shooting school,
we cannot aspire for a second generation of shooters who
will be capable of defending what we have achieved. The
young shooters do not have the means and the
opportunities to fulfill their goals. We have got
talented shooters like Saif Al Shamsi, Hamad Bin Mijren,
Abdullah Bin Mijren and Abdullah Al Aryani. These are my
nominations. We must work on their basics to give the
youngsters the opportunity to progress.”
“The medal has told them
that nothing is impossible to achieve at the highest
level. What I have done is laid out the course and shown
the path. It is now left to the youth to follow what I
have achieved.
“The up and coming
shooters should be prepared to make sacrifices and not
let defeats bend them. On the contrary, they should take
the positive aspects of a defeat and make themselves
mentally tougher. My medal is just the start for the UAE.
The challenge is now before the youths of the country
and hope they will accept it.”
Sheikh Ahmad can indeed
become an inspiration to a whole new sporting generation
and he is also putting his new found iconic status to
good use away from sport.
In the month of Ramadan,
Sheikh Ahmad undertook a tour of shopping malls to raise
money for the Rashid Paediatric Centre. During his
visits, Sheikh Ahmad posed for pictures with his fans
who in return bought t-shirts and caps with the proceeds
going to charity.
So while the Olympics
will now be remembered across the world for a variety of
reasons, in the Middle East it will be annulled as the
Games that shot the UAE to sporting glory. | 
