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By Dave Williams


  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.

   

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