Princess Haya of Jordan, the wife of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has revealed that she still considers herself an ‘athlete’ and would like to compete in the 2012 London Olympics, twelve years after she participated in the show jumping event at the Sydney 2000 Games.In an interview with CNN she said of sport:
“It’s absolutely fantastic, and I think it’s a lot more powerful than politics, than talking, than rhetoric. I think sports really delivers.”
Source: John Vause, ‘Saddling up for the Olympics’, CNN Video, 4 August 2008
Check out this short interview to hear Princess Haya speak about the Beijing Games, the welcome from the Chinese, her father who ‘opened the door’ for her to become an athlete and the challenges that Muslim women face in participating in sports.
Dr Geoff Pound
Image: Princess Haya and one of her horses.
