Emirati teen skates into history books

Zahra Lari, 17, will become the first UAE national figure skater to compete in an international competition next week.

A veiled teenage girl performing death-defying manoeuvres on ice may not be a common sight, but Zahra said she has never given the matter any thought.

ABU DHABI // Skating backwards, Zahra Lari hops elegantly on to one leg before launching herself into a 540-degree spin through the air.
With split-second timing she lands on her other leg, having performed, with apparent ease, one of the sport's toughest manoeuvres, the so-called "death drop".
As the graceful 17-year-old glides through her routine, performing various other tricky moves such as the "lay back spin" and "double axel", there is an occasional trip and even an odd fall or two.
Her coach yells encouragement. "Don't worry. Blank it out, everything out, just you and the ice."
On other occasions, she is more serious, remonstrating with her that a fall should have been avoided.
For Zahra, there is little room for such mistakes. On Monday she will become the first Emirati figure skater to compete in an international competition, when she takes on skaters from 50 countries at the European Cup in Canazei, Italy.
Watching her, it is hard to believe there was ever a time when the 12th grader was ever anything but completely at home on the ice.
"When I was about 11, I saw a movie called The Ice Princess, about a geeky kid who studies ice skating as part of a physics project and falls in love with figure skating," she said. "I watched the film and fell in love with the expression and the art, and knew it was what I wanted to do."
Zahra's father first took her to the ice rink at Zayed Sports City, although he had little idea quite how far his little girl's ambition would take her. When he first realised how serious she was taking the sport, he began to feel a little reluctant.
"It did take time to convince her father to let her do it - he didn't think it was proper and Islamic and UAE culture," said her mother, Roquiya Cochran, who was born in the US.
"But he loves her and wants her to be happy. She covers herself and hasn't done anything un-Islamic."
A veiled teenage girl performing death-defying manoeuvres on ice may not be a common sight, but Zahra said she has never given the matter any thought. Having worn the hijab since she was eight, she has never felt it stopped her from doing anything.
"I've never had someone say what I'm doing is bad but I've had people come up to me and praise me for it," she said.
Noemi Bedo, the coach who has been training Zahra since she started skating, often adjusts costumes designed for group performances to accommodate Zahra's religious sensibilities.
In Canazei she must perform three dances - the most challenging of which lasts three-and-a-half minutes and involves seven jumps.
"It is very difficult, very high effort," explained Ms Bedo. "During a jump your heart beats like a bird and it's continuous ... she sometimes even feels a taste of blood from the rush."
Zahra has been waking at 4.30am every day to prepare for the competition, fitting in her practice before lessons at the American International School of Abu Dhabi. As soon as school is over she rushes back to the ice for a second session.
It is a commitment far beyond most girls her age and she plans to keep it that way.
Asked if she would quit for a while once she is married and has children, she quickly shakes her head. "I don't see myself giving it up," she said, adding that after her competing days are over she would like to teach skating to children.
But before then, her dream is to represent the UAE at the Olympics.
She came a step closer to achieving that goal when the Olympic champion, Evan Lysacek, asked to skate with her twice when he was visiting the capital - a moment Zahra described as the most significant and rewarding of her skating career.
With the biggest competition of her life just days away, there are sure to be many more highlights for Zahra. But before they can happen, she is well aware of the long hours of practice she must put in. As hard as it is to perfect a jump such as the "death drop", Zahra said the most challenging part of the sport was to get up after a fall.
"To never give up was the biggest challenge," she said. "After a fall you just have to get up and do it all over again."
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