Finally someone calls a spade a spade!
Yay. Finally someone calls a spade a spade. For years, people knew that Qatar used to buy African athletes. Seems all are not happy with it. Talal Mansoor, one of the greatest athletes this country has produced, has lashed out at the qatar athletics association.
Check some of his statements.
The legendary athlete said any sensible person would have realised that Kenyan-born Nicholas Kemboi was not running the 10,000M at the World Championship in Berlin last week for his adopted country Qatar, but was a pacemaker for his former Kenyan team-mates.
"Let anybody challenge me on this. I can prove this with video evidence," said Talal.
"Ever since the QAAF started ignoring home-grown talent and opted for 'readymade' athletes, Qatar's downslide started," he added.
"The people who run the federation are not knowledgeable. I mean their knowledge of track and field is very little. Knowledgeable and experienced people are kept out. Ignorance can be very dangerous. They (QAAF) are taken for a ride, by the 'imported' athletes and foreign coaches."
"there's more money. I think money is the root cause of all evil. The federation officials don't have patience. They want instant results. So they ignore local talent and opt for 'take away' or 'readymade' athletes. Most of the budget is spent on them."
Here is the link to the article.
PLANS AND THEIR REALIZATION
AUGUST 19, 2009
Al Hamad calls for new Arab athletics strategy
BERLIN, Germany, – Mr. Dhalan Al Hamad, vice-president of IAAF and Asian Athletics Association made an important call to officials in charge of the Arab Athletics, urging them to set new strategies for the development of Arab Athletics sport.
Mr. Al Hamad told reporters Tuesday on the sidelines of 12th IAAF World Championships of Athletics taking place in Berlin Germany, that Arab athletics in recent years is suffering a terrible regression despite of its previous prominent history.
The IAAF vice-president reaffirmed that setting up new strategies and mapping out constructive planning and training could help Arab national teams achieve glory at the international arena.
AUGUST 23, 2009
Shami retires due to injury in Berlin Marathon
BERLIN, Germany – A sudden muscle pain caused Mubarak Shami retire from the Berlin Marathon Saturday.
Shami began the race confidently and in good style, but he was unfortunate to retire due to the increasing muscle pain.
Shall we call it... tribalism?...
gadarene, Qatar does have alot of desrving brains, but unfortunately similar to Mansour's case they too are selfishly cast aside and the undeserving bots (be them uneducated or clueless) are propped up instead to hog the limelight, finances and support.
The reason being is that the few who run the show dont invest in local talent because it's the only way they ONLY appear on the worldstage thus affording them an idiotic notion of superiority to the rest of the nationals. Thats it in a nutshell
my mind goes back to Mansoor Muftah, Khalid Salman, Mohammed Soofi, Yunus Ahmed... and the song... Hayyooooo Fareeeeqi... :-)
But these days... Ibrahim Khalfan is still refreshing... but Sebastian Soria :-/
Its actually symoblic, having the sheikh stand above while the 'black man' regardless of his Qatari nationality no matter what he did for Qatar stand below, as our country will always treat him as a decendant of slaves.
His kids grandmother was inherited by my father, I always kiss her forehead and hand, RIP.
If it were me I would honour the man for his progress and give him the recognition plus the limelight he earned for placing Qatar on the map with sweat and not titles purchased with money.
his heart would have been swelling for ages thinking that he would light the flame and rightfully so... an athletes career is encapsulated in these fleeting moments... imagine how he felt when he were told that he wouldn't light the flame by the opening ceremony organizers...
Look at this thread even, just 15 odd comments... how many people KNOW Talal Mansour... He was such a legend...
This is typical Qatar.
Limelight addiction and inferiorities will always hack away at any progress they try making
I felt sad that it was not he who lighted the torch at the Qatar Asian games although he carried the penultimate leg... they chose drama over class :-(... I remember back in school... he was such a phenomenon...
I remember Mohamed Ali lighting the flame at summer olympics... his whole body shivering from his illness... but there was poetry in the flame being lighted by athletes who devoted their entire life to their love of sport and the glory of their country... and achieved excellence...
gadarene, I couldn't agree more
Talal's Achievements:
The Qatari is the only person to have won a hat-trick of gold medals in the 100metres sprint at the Asian Games.
1994 Asian Games - gold medal (200 metres)
1994 Asian Games - gold medal
1993 IAAF World Indoor Championships - bronze medal
1993 Asian Championships - gold medal
1992 Pan Arab Games - gold medal (200 metres)
1992 Pan Arab Games - gold medal
1991 Asian Championships - gold medal
1990 Asian Games - gold medal
1987 Asian Championships - gold medal (200 metres)
1987 Asian Championships - gold medal
1986 Asian Games - gold medal
What is sad is this guy who should have headed the sprint coaching (doesnt matter if its a school team or of Doha or of Qatar) is now looking after a sport called Kabbadi :(.....
Links:
http://www.qatarolympics.org/topics/index.asp?g={ADA09BF4-7A51-4AA9-B17A-C27FD1FB0077}
Wow...this is BIG....
Talal Mansour passes the flame to HE Sheikh Mohammed Bin Hamad Al-Thani on horseback, who had the honour of lighting the cauldron.
I remember this guy's name as a sprinter....Talal Mansoor from Qatar....
And what he claims could be true....because he know what he is speaking about....
And these guys running as pacemakers get all the benefits but never get the Medals for their "adopted country".
They also are paid to "set the pace" in such a way that they burn out the prospective medal getting athlete....
I dont understand why guys like Talal are not given the financial & other facilities to train youngsters to earn medals....
well there's only so much money can buy...it's not like they can hide the fact that a kenyan or nigerian runner named 'micheal' or 'jacob' is actually not Qatari...actually makes them look pretty stupid on the world stage,irrespective of how many medals they win...but they're too dumb to realize that else they wouldn't have bought these guys in the 1st place & would have concentrated on nurturing home grown talent as Mr. Mansoor rightly pointed out,it defies the imagination that they wouldn't get this guy to head up the athletics federation instead of someone who doesn't have a clue,then again,it wouldn't be the only body here headed by someone without a clue,now would it?...& again,we come back to the perrenial question...if these guys actually used their brains,would so many of us expats be here?...
drsam, are you inquiring if Talal Mansour is considered a Qatari citizen inside Qatar?
Then the answer is Yes indeed, I know is wife and kids.
He placed Qatar on the map and made us proud (some of us at least)
Pity he never received the same accolades and investment as that of his imported counterparts.
But thats just Qatar.
Well done for him speaking up =D
I remember Britain did the same thing with Zola Budd from South Africa.. It turned into an embarassment for all concerned.
One commentator on the German TV said it right:"It looks like Qatar on the outside, but the question is, if Qatar is inside"? (Bejing, Olympic Games, Parade of the nations)
but is he recognized as qatari inside qatar?
or is he stripped of his citizenship paper at the airport?
Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. 14% of people know that.
They just got what they deserved. And again, money can buy something, but not everything. The world is not that stupid.
FACE YOUR FEARS LIVE YOUR DREAMS.....
Very true
I wana be Sports Man :s
Really
Work for 30 yrs and have a retirment of 3 yrs OR
Work for 3 yrs and have a retirment Of 30 yrs :D
Consult me:D
sad but true..
In his time, Talal Mansour was Asia's fastest man. Along with Ibrahim Ismail, Mohd Sulaiman and Bilal Saad they were a homegrown squad that made Qatar proud. Now its all gone..
Ethics so often go out the window when a sports title is in the offing.
I didn't drink the kool-aid! -- PM
respect.