Just a few days separate us from the biggest sporting event on the planet — the Olympics. The Olympic flame that was lit at the temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece, on April 21, 2016, according to tradition, is destined to conclude its journey in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to signal the beginning of this Olympic version on Aug. 5.
This version of the game is about to start with an endless array of concerns and fears. On 2014, the London Evening Standard quoted IOC Vice-President John Coates calling the Brazil’s preparations “the worst I’ve experienced,” with strong claims that the construction and infrastructure projects were way behind schedule. And till the end of last year, the work on two main venues was still in progress. Besides organization concerns, the ongoing outbreak of Zika virus is overshadowing the event. There were several calls to postpone the games amid fears that the 500,000 anticipated visitors could contribute in spreading the virus on an international scale.
In May of this year, a group of physicians and scientists sent an open letter to the World Health Organization, asking it to have “an open, transparent discussion of the risks of holding the Olympics as planned in Brazil.” The WHO dismissed the fears by confirming that “canceling or changing the location of the 2016 Olympics will not significantly alter the international spread of Zika virus,” and that there was “no public health justification” for postponing them.
Now as for the games themselves, it is, unfortunately, a case of another weak Saudi participation. While doing research for this article, I found different sources citing different numbers of Saudi participants — some claiming 13 Saudis will be taking place in five games, while others mentioned only 8 or 7. The confirmed information though is that there is not a single team-based sports we will be part of in the Olympics (in a quick comparison to other countries with less financial or human capital than us, we find, for example, Kazakhstan with 103 athletes in 17 sports; Estonia with 45 athletes in 13 sports, and Tunisia with 61 athletes in 17 sports).
Needless to say, having a strong presence in the Olympic games have not been the top priority of Saudi sports officials. In the history of the games, we have never been able to get a gold medal, we only snatched one silver (Hadi Al-Somaily in Sydney 2000, in a 400m hurdles race), and two bronzes (Khaled Al-Eid, also in Sydney 2000, in Equestrian show jumping, and one in London 2012 in Equestrian Team jumping).
It is to be admitted that in a country with more than 50 percent of population at a young age, with an obvious inclination to like and cheer for sports, it is striking as odd that we do not have a good number of Olympic-level athletes. The only explanation seems to be no other than the most obvious, we do not have the infrastructure in form of venues, coaches and sports industry that is able to spot, train, or actually make, an Olympic-level athlete.
Olympic athletes are made, not born. It takes years of hard work to prepare an individual who is able to compete with the best of the best in any given sports. It needs planning and vision. We can only be hopeful that the recent changes made to the Saudi Olympic Committee is meant to change the status quo. With a fresh management with a business background, one can expect result-oriented mindsets with an appreciation for vision, strategy and long-term planning.
It is next to impossible to expect much out of Rio games, and according to the committee new CEO, Hussam Al-Qurashi, they have plans for the Asian games in Jakarta 2018, and then for Tokyo Olympics in 2020. I really hope that such optimism would lead to results, and along with it, long-term plans to elevate the sports infrastructure and industry in the country — that is the only path we need to take to make Olympic-level athletes.
This version of the game is about to start with an endless array of concerns and fears. On 2014, the London Evening Standard quoted IOC Vice-President John Coates calling the Brazil’s preparations “the worst I’ve experienced,” with strong claims that the construction and infrastructure projects were way behind schedule. And till the end of last year, the work on two main venues was still in progress. Besides organization concerns, the ongoing outbreak of Zika virus is overshadowing the event. There were several calls to postpone the games amid fears that the 500,000 anticipated visitors could contribute in spreading the virus on an international scale.
In May of this year, a group of physicians and scientists sent an open letter to the World Health Organization, asking it to have “an open, transparent discussion of the risks of holding the Olympics as planned in Brazil.” The WHO dismissed the fears by confirming that “canceling or changing the location of the 2016 Olympics will not significantly alter the international spread of Zika virus,” and that there was “no public health justification” for postponing them.
Now as for the games themselves, it is, unfortunately, a case of another weak Saudi participation. While doing research for this article, I found different sources citing different numbers of Saudi participants — some claiming 13 Saudis will be taking place in five games, while others mentioned only 8 or 7. The confirmed information though is that there is not a single team-based sports we will be part of in the Olympics (in a quick comparison to other countries with less financial or human capital than us, we find, for example, Kazakhstan with 103 athletes in 17 sports; Estonia with 45 athletes in 13 sports, and Tunisia with 61 athletes in 17 sports).
Needless to say, having a strong presence in the Olympic games have not been the top priority of Saudi sports officials. In the history of the games, we have never been able to get a gold medal, we only snatched one silver (Hadi Al-Somaily in Sydney 2000, in a 400m hurdles race), and two bronzes (Khaled Al-Eid, also in Sydney 2000, in Equestrian show jumping, and one in London 2012 in Equestrian Team jumping).
It is to be admitted that in a country with more than 50 percent of population at a young age, with an obvious inclination to like and cheer for sports, it is striking as odd that we do not have a good number of Olympic-level athletes. The only explanation seems to be no other than the most obvious, we do not have the infrastructure in form of venues, coaches and sports industry that is able to spot, train, or actually make, an Olympic-level athlete.
Olympic athletes are made, not born. It takes years of hard work to prepare an individual who is able to compete with the best of the best in any given sports. It needs planning and vision. We can only be hopeful that the recent changes made to the Saudi Olympic Committee is meant to change the status quo. With a fresh management with a business background, one can expect result-oriented mindsets with an appreciation for vision, strategy and long-term planning.
It is next to impossible to expect much out of Rio games, and according to the committee new CEO, Hussam Al-Qurashi, they have plans for the Asian games in Jakarta 2018, and then for Tokyo Olympics in 2020. I really hope that such optimism would lead to results, and along with it, long-term plans to elevate the sports infrastructure and industry in the country — that is the only path we need to take to make Olympic-level athletes.
