Iraqi aiming for Winter Games
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – Faisal Ghazi Faisal’s Olympic dream lives on, and it’s no pipe dream anymore.
After less than three weeks of training in the sport of skeleton, Faisal slid a little bit closer to his quest to become the first Iraqi athlete to compete in the Winter Games, finishing 32nd out of 37 competitors Saturday in an America’s Cup race on the Olympic track at Mount Van Hoevenberg.
His beaming smile afterward seemed warm enough to melt the icy ground where he stood as several competitors took turns giving him hugs.
“I broke the minute!” Faisal shouted, jumping up and down. “I only broke that once, and I wasn’t on the sled at the finish. I didn’t expect to do it. It’s a great accomplishment.”
That it came one day before national elections were scheduled to be held in his homeland was not lost in the emotion of the moment.
“You can never go wrong with a vote like this one. It couldn’t come on a better day, and tomorrow is an important day for us. This is the best vote I could have ever dreamed of,” Faisal said. “I broke the minute, and on this track, that means a lot for a beginner. There’s no better time to do it. I’m going to call everyone back home that I know and tell them, because this is for Iraq. It’s not for me.”
Faisal grew up in a middle-class family in Baghdad; his father is a civil engineer and his mother teaches architecture. After watching the 1998 Nagano Games on television, he left home to study business in Australia and attempted to qualify for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City in several sports, including Alpine skiing, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speedskating.
He failed in all and faced an uphill battle because the Iraqi Olympic Committee was not recognizing him and didn’t want to get involved in winter sports. Undeterred, Faisal called the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation in November after seeing the sport by chance on television. The organization offered to help, and invited him to train in Lake Placid.
Although he didn’t qualify to make a second run – only the top 25 made the cut – Faisal’s finish of 59.15 seconds was enough to beat athletes from Brazil, Greece, Jamaica, Armenia, and the Virgin Islands.
“I’ve only been doing this for less than two weeks,” Faisal said. “I just have to keep going, keep concentrating on the Olympics.”
U.S. coach Steve Peters was ecstatic.
“I’m pretty psyched. He beat five other people, and he’s only been doing this three weeks. He really put it together on game day,” said Peters, who has been working with Faisal. “I think the future is pretty bright for him.”