THOSE who criticize the Saudi failure in Beijing are exaggerating. Did they ever expect us to compete against the rest of the world for gold, silver or even bronze?
Competition requires certain elements and a foundation, which at present we simply do not have. Needless to say, our sporting reality is an open book. Any observer can read failure on its very first page.
We were pinning hope on some individual skills in athletics and equestrian, but instead of apologizing for the failure of his federation, the head of the athletics and equestrian federations threatened his critics with hell upon his return from China.
The star riders could not find horses to mount, so they exchanged the few they had among themselves. The most famous of them was unable to participate in the Olympics because he did not have a horse.
If we had used just a little of the money we spend on team sports — which specialize in failure — to buy a qualified horse, we might have won a medal and saved face.
Our sporting position needs radical changes. This is a demand we make after each failure. The legitimate demand will go into oblivion when we forget our failure in a certain competition.
To be strong in sport, we need a strong sports press. Regrettably, our sports newspapers are weak or busy with shortsighted conflicts. You have the feeling that the sport pages are run by fans, not specialized journalists.
What happened in Beijing Olympics is not a failure but a translation of our reality into sports. Sporting accomplishments are not made by wishes or bombastic statements but by hard work and well thought-out plans, not illusionary ones.
