YANQING, China — An
Olympic alpine ski racer from
Saudi Arabia might read like a misnomer, but
Fayik Abdi defied the odds by achieving just that on Sunday.
اضافة اعلان
Just a year after taking up
racing, Abdi successfully competed in the men's giant slalom at the
Beijing Games in the first step to what he hopes will be an Arab revolution of the
truly snowy kind.
Abdi is the sole
representative from the
Gulf kingdom, not known so much for its mountain pistes
as the vast hinterlands of the Empty Quarter, the vast Rub' Al-Khali desert in
the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula.
The 24-year-old's
introduction to skiing, needless to say, did not start in his homeland, but
instead Lebanon, where he spent many winters as a child.
Winter camps in Switzerland
followed before Abdi upped sticks in 2016 to the US state of Utah, where he
further honed his skills.
He graduated from the
University of Utah in Salt Lake City four years later, returning home
"hoping to make a connection between skiing and Saudi Arabia".
Abdi said he was approached
by authorities in the new
city of Neom, in northwestern Saudi Arabia on the
border with Jordan, to test snow conditions ahead of the construction of a ski
resort in mountains there.
"I could never imagine
I would be able to ski in Saudi Arabia," said Abdi, who last year was
fast-tracked by the country's winter sports federation for participation at
these Games, taking part in qualifying races in Austria, Sweden, Italy and
Montenegro.
"I lived in Saudi for
10 years and Saudi does have snow, we just don't have enough snow to be
maintained for skiing."
To compensate, two huge
indoor ski complexes are planned for the capital Riyadh and the Red Sea port
city of Jeddah.
"But they are building
something similar to this (Yanqing) in the north-west of Saudi. I was there, I
have already skied in Saudi, so it's definitely possible."
Finishing 'a
plus'
In testing conditions
including heavy snowfall and limited visibility, Abdi finished 51st out of 54
finishers in the first leg of the giant slalom. Thirty-three racers failed to
finish.
He successfully made it down
the second leg, as eight more skiers fell to the wayside, eventually finishing
44th, more than 37 seconds slower than the gold medal winner from Switzerland,
Marco Odermatt.
"Our goal wasn't just
to finish, our goal was to ski as best as we could," Abdi said.
"I am happy I tried my
best. It could have gone better for sure. The fact we finished is definitely a
plus."
The Saudi insisted his
result was much more than an individual goal.
"I don't want it to be
about me, I want it to be about Saudi and inspiring and encouraging
Saudis to
do what they love and to find a passion," he said.
"I am really proud to
be here representing Saudi and I think this is a sign of the direction Saudi is
moving. It has changed a lot in the last few years and it's going to continue
to change.”
"There are many Saudis
in different sports doing things for the first time. It's part of the plan,
part of Vision 2030."
That vision has seen Saudi
Arabia host a raft of other sports such as Formula One, the
Dakar Rally,
high-profile football, cycling, Formula E, and boxing events.
Saudi officials argue that
they come within the remit of the country's "Vision 2030" to increase
its openness.
But there has been criticism
from human rights organizations amid accusations of "sports washing" —
using sport to divert attention away from not only domestic rights issues but
also Riyadh's involvement in Yemen's seven-year war which has left hundreds of
thousands of people dead and millions more displaced in what the
UN calls the
world's biggest humanitarian crisis.
But that was not on Abdi's
mind as he finished ahead of skiers from Timor-Leste, India and Jamaica.
"The more diverse the
sport, the better the sport," he said.
"This is the beginning,
not just for Saudi Arabia but for many nations and hopefully in the future we
see more countries and more teams contending."
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