Professional equestrian Nayel Nassar is currently in Tokyo, representing Egypt in individual showjumping.
Today, he made it through the individual qualifying rounds, ahead of the finals on Wednesday.
As well as his sporting prowess, Nassar, 30, is engaged to Jennifer Gates, 25, a medical student and daughter of Bill and Melinda Gates. It is not known when they plan to marry, but Jennifer celebrated her bachelorette party in June.
The couple announced their engagement in January 2020, with a post from Jennifer that read: "Nayel Nassar, you are one of a kind. Absolutely swept me off my feet this past weekend, surprising me in the most meaningful location over one of our many shared passions. I can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives learning, growing, laughing and loving together. Yes a million times over."
The couple have been together since 2018, and got engaged during a skiing holiday. They have a mutual love for equestrian sports.
Nayel Nassar the Olympian
Cheering her fiance on, Jennifer wrote on Instagram: "So proud of these two ... first Olympic Games! Can’t wait to cheer them on as they represent Team Egypt in Tokyo."
Speaking of the pre-event training with his horse, Igor Van De Wittemoere, Nassar wrote: "Igor was very fresh and spooky in the warm-up class tonight, after 10 days without jumping.
"But I hope he’ll round into form as the week goes on. He’s always a bit unpredictable on day one, which is why we use these warm-up classes to try to get out the kinks. Fingers crossed."
Ahead of competing, Nassar's father-in-law-to-be, Bill, posted his support for the Olympian on Instagram.
“I’m rooting for lots of athletes in Tokyo right now – but none more than my soon-to-be-son-in-law, Nayel Nassar. Good luck, Nayel!” he wrote.
Speaking of qualifying for the Olympics back in December, Nassar described the moment as special. "We had a large contingent from Egypt who came to support us and we felt like we had the strongest team in the Arab world. It would have been a huge disappointment for us not to qualify, so it felt great to pull together under pressure and deliver the clear rounds when they mattered most."
It is the first time an Egyptian equestrian team has qualified in six decades.
"We don’t get the opportunity to do many Nations Cups and Egypt had never won one in its history. So to beat all the other countries as well, even those who didn’t have Olympic qualification at stake, was just the icing on the cake."
Growing up in Kuwait
Nassar was born in Chicago, but grew up in Kuwait, where members of his family still live. In 2009, he moved to California, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in economics at Stanford University.
Instead of entering the world of finance, however, he carved out a successful career in showjumping.
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Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
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Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
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1.30pm Handicap (PA) Dh50,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
Winner Al Suhooj, Saif Al Balushi (jockey), Khalifa Al Neyadi (trainer)
2pm Handicap (TB) 68,000 (D) 1,950m
Winner Miracle Maker, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer
2.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner Mazagran, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
3pm Handicap (TB) Dh84,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner Tailor’s Row, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
3.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh76,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner Alla Mahlak, Adrie de Vries, Rashed Bouresly
4pm Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner Hurry Up, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
4.30pm Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,200m
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The 37-year-old was born in Al Garmah in Anbar and studied civil engineering in Baghdad before going into business. His development company Al Hadeed undertook reconstruction contracts rebuilding parts of Fallujah’s infrastructure.
He entered parliament in 2014 and served as a member of the human rights and finance committees until 2017. In August last year he was appointed governor of Anbar, a role in which he has struggled to secure funding to provide services in the war-damaged province and to secure the withdrawal of Shia militias. He relinquished the post when he was sworn in as a member of parliament on September 3.
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It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
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Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
