faux pas at the diving competition
one particular incident at the recently concluded diving competition was funny and quite pleasing to watch
me and my hubby being sport addicts were there to watch all the events at the diving finals recently held at the hamad aquatic centre, aspire zone.
what was really funny happened during the springboard synchronised diving award ceremony.
one al thani member who is also a member of the qatar olympic commitee was handing over the medals when the bronze medal winning italian diver after getting her medal accidentally kissed the qatari on both cheeks!!!
( it is common practice for winners to kiss the presenters and vice versa at the podium but doing that here obviously would have been a culture shock!!!)
the qatari guy was obviously amused but taken aback and must have politely told her and her partner that it was taboo!!!
the audience who noticed this had a good laugh and right through the award ceremony and through the chinese national anthem and all the way through their long walk back to their pavilion, the red faced italian girl cudnt stop giggling and feeling embarrassed. even the sedate looking VIP who handed out the medal cudnt hide his embarassment and was flashing a smile throughout the chinese anthem.
it was a very sweet moment to be cherished and though the field wasnt very competitive with some top divers giving doha the miss, it was still well worth it with some very big names entertaining the audience.
sadly in most events there were hardly 3-4 comepetitors in the finals vying for the top 3 places.
hats off to the organisers for this beautiful event and thanks to the QL member who posted such beautiful pics on a separate thread.
