After more than two decades as a rider, trainer and breeder, Abdullah Al Marri has finally fulfilled a lifelong dream of qualifying for the Olympics.
The Emirati booked his ticket for the Paris 2024 during a regional qualifier in Doha this month, the culmination of a long journey which began with his debut for the UAE at an international show jumping competition in Sharjah in 2002.
He will compete in both the individual and team event in which the Emirates will make their debut at the Summer Games.
“The Olympics is the pinnacle of our sport, and for me, I am super excited that my dream has turned into reality,” Al Marri told The National on the sidelines of the five-day Al Shira’aa Show at the Al Ain Equestrian, Shooting and Golf Club at the weekend.
“It is my first Olympics and it’s the first time the UAE have qualified for an Olympics as a team in show jumping.
“We now want to go out there and feel that we belong there at the Olympics. It’s not a matter of luck but we have worked very hard for it and we deserve to be there.
“We also want to go out there and perform on the biggest stage of our careers. Hopefully, it will be our day during the competition.”
Al Marri has represented his country at the FEI World Cup, FEI Nations Cup and the Asian Games and was a member of the UAE team that made history by winning the Challenge Cup at the FEI Nations Cup Finals in Barcelona in 2017.
Joining Al Marri at the Paris Games in July are teammates Ghanem Al Hajri, Abdullah Al Muhairi, and Omar Al Marzooqi, who was the first Emirati to win a medal (silver) at a Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires 2018.
At age 40 Al Marri is the most senior member of the team and he believes they are well placed to give a good account of themselves in the French capital while also keen to manage expectations
“We are working on a schedule that we believe is the best and this preparation will help a lot in getting ready in the best way possible,” he said.
“People will know you can always suffer injuries and the horses could be not sound when it comes to transportation and so on. There are always surprises in this sport but I think we have a great team and everyone knows their jobs.
“The challenges are big. The level is going to be high without any doubt and we’ll elevate our levels to meet those challenges.”
Al Marri has two horses aimed at the Olympics: James, a 15-year-old bay gelding, and McGregor, a 12-year-old grey gelding, both owned by Sheikha Fatima bint Hazza, Chairperson of both Al Shira’aa Stables and the Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Academy.
“They are both top-flight horses and I have to choose the best one on the day for the Olympics,” he said.
“We are trying to get them to peak form in time for the Olympics. There are always obstacles and challenges but we have a great team around us – the management, logistics and hopefully the formula works to choose the better horse.
“Sheikha Fatima bint Hazza has played a very big role in the show jumping team’s qualification to Paris. Al Shira’aa is now a renowned name in the FEI events, organising a couple of shows in Europe aside from the domestic competitions.”
Transporting the horses to Europe will be one of the biggest challenges but for now they will remain in the UAE and ramp up preparations by taking part in local competitions.
The team will take a small break after the holy month of Ramadan ends in April before spending around three months in England to fine-tune preparations before heading to Paris ahead of the July 26-August 11 Paris Games.
Al Marri has been part of three Asian Games squads, collecting a bronze medal in the individual and team events for the UAE at the 2022 Games in Hangzhou, China.
The team have been working together since last summer with the ultimate goal of first qualifying and then competing at Paris 2024.
With the first of those targets achieved, Al Marri is now dedicated to the second and try to bring home a medal.
“I think every sportsperson would agree if you don’t make sacrifices and dedicate [yourself], it’s hard to succeed in any sport that you do," he said.
“We spend as much time with our horses as possible in either training, riding, or breeding. The whole concept is to stay in the zone and hopefully achieve the results we want at the Olympics. We don’t want to miss out on any chance of a medal.
“There are always hopes and dreams. If you don’t have that I think you could give up so easily. The goals we have keeps us motivated daily to do something that as a nation we have never achieved and as an individual you never achieved.
“To have a goal set to achieve something that wasn’t achievable is the biggest motivation for us.”
