Emirati Women’s Day: Back to the books for UAE’s Rio 2016 flag-bearer Nada Al Bedwawi

Swimmer Nada Al Bedwawi in Rio, where she represented the UAE in the Olympics. WAM

This week Nada Al Bedwawi will be easing herself back into the grind, rejoining NYU Abu Dhabi where she is studying for a degree in biology. A few weeks ago, however, she was making a little bit of history.

Al Bedwawi, 19, was holding the UAE flag and leading out the UAE’s delegation of athletes at the Opening Ceremony of the Rio Olympics. She was not the first Emirati woman to have that honour: Sheikha Maitha bint Mohammed bin Rashid, daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, was the first female to lead the country into an Olympic Games, carrying the flag at the Opening Ceremony at the Beijing Games in 2008 as a taekwondo competitor.

See also:

• Pictures: Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Olympic Games

• UAE at Rio 2016: Nada Al Bedwawi ready for 'greatest privilege' as flag-bearer

• Rio 2016: Meet the men and women representing the UAE at the Olympics

“The whole experience there was overwhelming,” Al Bedwawi said. “Carrying your country’s flag is the greatest honour any athlete can have, and at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics.”

Al Bedwawi said as a female athlete she felt the extra significance of the moment. “Especially with the UAE. We’re a small country so representation is very important and especially representation of women in sports.”

Al Bedwawi is used to breaking new ground. In 2015, along with Alia Al Shamsi, Al Bedwawi became the first female swimmer to represent the UAE at the World Championships.

Two weeks ago, on August 12, she became the first female swimmer to represent the country at the Olympics, participating as a wild-card entry in the first heat of the 50-metre freestyle event in Rio.

She finished third out of four in her heat, failing to qualify for the next round, but it hardly mattered. At 33.42 seconds, she set a new personal best time and understood the significance of the occasion.

“Yes I was slightly nervous, of course, just before the race, and I did feel the occasion. But then I let go of all that and focused on the race itself and I delivered a satisfying result. I was happy with getting a new personal-best time.”

Since returning from Rio, Al Bedwawi says young girls have approached her to tell her they want to grow up to be like her and be able to represent the UAE at the Olympics and other sporting events.

Although she has become a role model, she still hopes to have a long career ahead of her. The call to represent her country at Rio came one Games too early, she felt. Her oft-stated goal has always been to qualify as a competitor for Tokyo 2020.

She is planning on taking a gap year after graduating, in which she will focus solely on training to be ready for Tokyo.

In the interim, she will have to juggle her academic commitments with her swimming ones – she trains early in the morning during term-time before going to classes. She plans to compete in the National Championships and in the World Championships in Canada in December this year.

She is also keen to see more contemporaries join her, in swimming and other sports. “I’m 100 per cent sure there is willingness from the female side to be involved” in more sports, she said.

“We just need more media attention. Before the Olympics, I don’t think many girls knew about me, or that there was an Emirati female swimmer. Now, I would hope they feel more encouraged to take up sports.”

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