Mahmud Kamel Ahmed has endured tragedy and moral disdain on the road to becoming an international athlete but he is finally reaching his physical peak.
The steeplechase runner has overcome much bigger hurdles than those that line the running track where he trains in south Baghdad. But the true challenge of his life may yet lie ahead.
A Sunni Arab from the province of Diyala, his talent was spotted by a teacher 10 years ago.
“One of the teachers noticed I was a good runner, he encouraged me and so in 2000 I started to train,” Ahmed says. His father, however, was not keen on athletics.
“Running conflicted with his conservative values and he thought it would affect my behavior, so I stopped for a while. He burned my running clothes,” the 27-year-old recalls.
The US-led invasion of Iraq was to have a dramatic impact on Ahmed, who had resumed training in secret.
Al-Qaeda formed bases in Sunni strongholds like Diyala, where the movement’s fanatics considered wearing shorts in public to be an offense, for which people were killed, prompting Ahmed to move to Baghdad in 2004.
Sectarian killings peaked in 2006 and 2007 — the year Ahmed’s life changed.
“I got a telephone call to say that my family had been attacked but that everyone was alright,” Ahmed says.
Three days later he learned the truth.
“I called a driver from my town who works in Baghdad. He told me that my parents, five brothers, two of their wives, an aunt and three nephews had been killed,” he says.
They were murdered because, being Sunnis, al-Qaeda considered them traitors since some family members worked for the Shiite-led government.
Ahmed has competed in countries including Lebanon, Poland, and Greece, winning the bronze medal in the 3,000m steeplechase at the Arab Games in Jordan last year.
While proud of the achievement, he remains miserable about the state of sport in his country.
“I am really close to my best fitness now, but if I stay in Iraq, I will achieve nothing,” Ahmed says.
He was tempted to flee to Germany, where an uncle lives, after competing at a recent event in Poland but the US$85,000 bond that a friend paid to allow Ahmed’s trip abroad stopped him.
“My friend begged me to come back and I had to because he would have lost his money. I couldn’t just run away,” he says.
Although levels of violence have dropped overall, upbeat talk about improving security from those who rule Iraq seven years after the invasion ring hollow for Ahmed.
He cannot return to Diyala because there are still people in the province who would like to kill him. Even the prospect of competing in the 2012 Olympics seems unable to erase the blackness of his recent past.
“It’s impossible for me to go home to Diyala but, if I stay in Iraq, I will achieve nothing,” he says again.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
Francesco Bagnaia yesterday profited from a mistake by rookie Pedro Acosta to win the Japan MotoGP sprint and close the gap on overall championship leader, Jorge Martin. Spaniard Acosta crashed with four laps to go while leading the field at Motegi, allowing defending world champion Bagnaia to take first ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Spain’s Martin finished fourth and saw his overall lead over Italian Bagnaia in the championship standings cut to 15 points. “I am very happy because with these conditions, it’s not very easy to win and gain points,” Bagnaia said after a sprint race that took place under
RSS