[ad_1]
“My story is in the school kids’ history books,” Nasser Al-Attiyah proudly told ESPN in 2017, adding that with his fifth victory in the Dakar Rally on Sunday, he’s another. I have assured that chapters will be added.
The 52-year-old joins high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim in the top spot as Qatar’s best athlete, but the latter’s Olympic gold is what Al-Attiyah is most coveted for.
Al-Attiyah has competed at every Olympic Games in skeet shooting since Atlanta in 1996, demonstrating the same grim determination he has shown in numerous Dakar rallies to secure medals of all kinds. .
Ultimately, it came to pass at the 2012 London Games when he beat Russia’s Valery Shomin to win the shoot-off, moving up from 4th place in 2004.
“I told myself that this time I had to win a medal for my country, for all Arabs,” Al-Attiyah told Sport360.
“I have everything at home, except for the Olympic medals. It means a lot.”
Al-Attiyah, who had just won his fourth Olympic medal in Qatar, was really devastated by his sports straps a year after his first victory in the Dakar Rally.
After that, he won the Dakar Rally four times with his co-pilot and his best friend Mathieu Baumel, and failed to win a medal at the 2016 Rio Games, so his appetite is never satisfied.
He still holds out hopes of winning a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Games and inspiring more school kids in Qatar to take up shooting and car racing.
“Many young people want to get into shooting and racing after reading about me,” he says.
Al-Attiyah used to participate in three sports, but gave up riding because he feared hand injuries would keep him from participating in the other two sports.
– “Helped me excel” –
His love for Daredevil also drove him to become a pilot, but he later shelved it.
“I dreamed of becoming a pilot, especially since my cousin was a pilot and I was the youngest of them all,” he told Jordan News in 2021.
“They graduated from British flight school.”
But the opportunity to partner with another cousin on a rally convinced him that his feet were on the ground and in the air.
But it was his father Saleh who gave him a way into both of his favorite sports.
Saleh bought him a Nissan Patrol when he was 18 and quickly became a national success, with al-Attiyah seniors also taking him hunting.
“My father said, ‘Nasser, you’re a hunter. If you want to improve, you need to practice clay pigeons,'” Al-Attiyah told ESPN.
“It helps you focus and helps strengthen your mind.
“And later, when I realized I was getting better, I decided to keep shooting.”
Al-Attiyah says that one is not a distraction and they complement each other.
“Juggling between two professional sports and feeling the pressure to be the best in both is very difficult,” he told Qatar website Q Life in 2018.
“Shooting helped me excel in rally driving because it takes a lot of concentration. It helped me stay mentally strong.”
For the time being, al-Attiyah is waiting for a new generation to replace him.
“The Qatar government says they will retire if they find another Nasser,” he told ESPN.
“There’s never been anyone else like me, so I keep taking pictures.”
As a result, if he wins a gold medal in Paris next year, he may have a history book dedicated just to him.
pi/number
[ad_2]
Source link
