JEDDAH, 9 February 2007 — The pride and joy of Saudi athletics, Hadi Souan Al-Somayli, has retired after last December’s Asian Games in Doha but his iconic status among fellow athletes never fails to generate awe and inspiration.
He won the first-ever Olympic medal for Saudi Arabia by taking home the 400 meters hurdles silver medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and his many achievements during a glorious 14-year track career have cemented his place in the pantheon of Saudi sporting heroes.
From trackster Ismail Al-Sabiani, 18, to young judoka Abdulrahman Al-Hazmi, 21, to veteran volleyball player Ismael Al-Khaibary, 34, they all agree that Hadi Souan is a leader and role model.
The 30-year old Souan, now a physical education supervisor at the Ministry of Education, looks back at his checkered career in an interview at the Arab News office recently.
Along with the Olympic silver medal he won with an Asian record of 47.53 seconds Souan counts the 2001 Goodwill Games hurdles silver he won in Brisbane, Australia as his most prized possessions.
Souan has 40 gold medals under his belt including the one he won at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea and the others when he became Arab champion and Arab tournaments’ champion, Asian champion and Asian tournaments’ champion.
He missed out on the medals during the 2001 World Athletics Chamionships in Edmonton, Canada placing fourth but came back the next year to win the Kingdom’s Olympic medal in Sydney.
“Two people stood by my side and made me reach where I am now thus I can never refuse any request they ask of me. They are my mother and Prince Nawaf ibn Mohammed, the president for the Saudi Athletic Federation,” said Souan.
“That is why I put off quitting athletics in 2004 due to the prince request,” he said.
“It was the year of the 1st Islamic Solidarity Games which was held here and I had to be with my nation and then now with the Asian Games he also wanted me to be there, and I am glad I did.”
The prince, according to Souan, gave him no special treatment but treats him with respect and kept offering him all the support, trust and guidance needed. And due to his father’s early death, his mother assumed the role of a single parent and used to feel sad if he failed. “Even more than I do, hence I always wanted her to be proud,” he said. “I just regret not being able to take my mother to watch me while I play.”
He points to Prince Nawaf as mainly instrumental in all his achievements “because he was honestly always behind them.”
Balancing his athletic career and family life was not easy for Souan.
“It used to be before getting married and having my Sami, 5, and Dareen, 18 months.” He added life obligations made it even harder.
Hurdler Souan was playing football and loved it like any other Saudi, but during his high school examinations he could not train and lost fitness. His friends started to introduce him to athletics as the sport that will get him back in shape. As soon as he joined them, the coach told him your height and shape is perfect.
“I was not convinced yet to leave football but as a 17-year old from Khamis Mushayt he knew how to tempt me through explaining how they travel and how they could miss school during training camps,” he said.
Souan won 2nd place at the school championship and qualified to play at the Kingdom’s event since then and joined the national team in less than a year. First he started in high jump then decathlon and finally found himself at the 400m hurdles, admittedly one of the toughest disciplines in athletics.
He trained under different coaches to improve his techniques. He now enjoying life as a retired athlete but hopes to be back in the scene as a coach.
Back when he was building his career Souan has had many experiences in training, under Egyptian coach Mohammed Thu Alfaqqar from 1991, under Americans until 1994, and under international and 1968 Olympics gold medalist Lee Evans. But the best place Souan remembers having trained was in UCLA (University of California in Los Angeles).
“It is a sport and artistic society indeed, we spoke, ate, slept, and even relaxed for sport,” he said. Sometimes when one is on a diet people there can understand, but here if your mother had cooked you something it would be rude, he said, to tell her or anyone you can not! “These little things and the different sleeping habits here and there made me suffer a bit when I came back from the States, but we get used to it.”
Souan had also trained the European way in Paris under a Russian coach and France’s Amadou Dia Ba. “Hence I started to learn the difference between European and American schools,” said Souan. The American schools concentrated on the endurance level while the French on the speed.
“I wish schools here would pay more attention to other sports,” he said. Parents would feel secure if such sport activities were taking place at the school itself and with supervision from the teachers. Some parents, he explained, may feel they will be risking their child’s future by sending him to a club instead of wasting his time on studying, but when it comes from the school, parents would be encouraged.
Few schools are doing that, and now we see new rising stars in athletics with a clear vision of what they want to do. “In few years many will be world champions; if they followed the same plans the federation puts for them and continue with the same dedication.”
He expects Mohammed Al-Salhi and Hussain Al-Sabaa would do well in Beijing Olympics. “Mohammed Al-Bishi and Adel Aseeri would deliver a big surprise in London Games in 2010” he said.
Souan had wanted to be like the Qatari 100 meters specialist Talal Mansour Al-Rahim. He heard about him a lot, and when they came face to face Souan said the feeling was indescribable. He said it’s amazing how Talal touched the lives of people from the Gulf and Arab countries and foreigners who knew him. “He is the role model for all Gulf athletes,” said Souan.
Countryman Saad Shaddad, a World Cup bronze medalist, also drew praise from Souan. He said “just watching him made me feel like reaching the World Cup is easy.”
He values communication skills. As a PE teacher he had to speak about it and especially about learning languages, which is one of the essentials, especially learning English. “If you want to travel and participate and represent your country, he said, “You should be able to at least communicate and this opens lots of doors for you.”
It was out of necessity that he has to learn English. “I did not know well English back then but I knew I had to when I saw hundreds of reporters approaching me asking questions that unfortunately I do not even remember what I said, ” said Souan recalling an incident in 1995 in Gothenburg while coming to the sport village after shopping with a fellow athlete.
He added, “my companion said I knew and that was embarrassing, that is why since then I started to educate myself with dictionaries, books and I learned it just like my teammate Hamdan Al-Bishi who mastered the language without having to go to a language school, “because we wanted to.”
That is why he explains even the younger generation needs to importance of a second language. “If they want to develop themselves they should do it themselves and not wait for a scholarship or language courses to be offered from their federation. “I bet with the internet now they knew how important it is,” he said.
Finally, the poster boy of Saudi athletics concludes the interview with three requests. First, for the universities to take good care of the talented athletes and help them develop into world-beaters through competitions. Second, for sport federations to have more facilities for training. Jeddah has only Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal stadium, “and it is not always available for athletes to train with football matches running,” he said. Third, and most important, for parents and schools to teach the children the virtue of competing and winning. Yet if one suffers defeat, “you can still carry on and look forward to enhance your skills the next time.”
