Why weightlifting? It is one of the first questions that Aisha Al Balooshi usually faces in most social or professional gatherings, and it is not too difficult to understand why.
“People keep asking me that question because I am a Muslim and an Arab,” said a dismissive Al Balooshi, the youngest of 12 siblings, as she answered that question yet again, moments after being announced as the Emirates Weightlifting Federation’s pick for the UAE’s lone qualifying spot in the women’s weightlifting competition at the Rio Olympics.
Al Balooshi, now 24, was asked that question when she first traded in her volleyball and running boots for the barbells on a whim back in 2009 as well, and they have never stopped since. Even her parents did not seem very convinced at the start.
“No one from my family agreed because they believed weightlifting was for the boys,” said Al Balooshi, who will be competing in the 58kg class at the Rio Olympics and will open her campaign on August 8. “They were also worried I would get hurt, but then their views changed once I started winning medals in competitions.
“Of course, the other people have not stopped asking that question.
“They will keep saying, ‘what is she doing in weightlifting’, but it does not matter. Alhamdullilah, I have represented the UAE in a good way until now and I hope I can keep doing it.”
Al Balooshi has done well, indeed, right from her first international competition, the 2009 Asian Youth and Junior Championship in Dubai.
Since then, Al Balooshi has collected 13 gold medals, six silvers and four bronzes in various international competitions, including two golds and a silver at last December’s Arab Championships in Egypt.
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Given her experience, Al Balooshi was obviously the first choice when the International Weightlifting Federation decided to award UAE a spot in the women’s weightlifting section at Rio Olympics following their executive meeting in Georgia last month.
“We are really proud of all the seven members of the UAE team who took part in the Asian Championships in Tashkent and created this opportunity for us,” said Sheikh Sultan bin Mejren, president of the Emirates Weightlifting Federation (EWF).
“Aisha, of course, got the highest score in qualifying and so we have chosen her.
“She has represented the UAE at a lot of competitions in this region, Asia and the world, and has done really well. We are proud of her and we are proud to see the unity in this team.
“Honestly, our weightlifters deserve a real salute because we do not even have a proper training base and yet they have qualified for a second successive Olympics. This qualification is a testimony to their spirit and proof of their desire to excel for the UAE.
“Hopefully, this qualification will help change perspectives and we will get greater support because, and I am proud to say this, we are providing results though our budget is a fraction of what some of the other federations get.”
The UAE men’s and women’s weightlifting squad share a temporary training base at the Salah Al Deen Sports club in Al Mamzar, with very basic facilities.
“Both the men’s and women’s team train at the same venue, so we try to split them up and try to give each team three hours a day, five days a week,” said Jassim Al Awadhi, the finance director and assistant technical director at EWF.
Close to a dozen women train there every week day and, often, Al Balooshi, who lives in Dubai’s Al Barsha district, takes the responsibility of picking her teammates from home and dropping them back after the training.
“She is the leader of the team and she leads by example,” said Bin Mejren. “She is always there on time for every training session, she is always taking care of the other members of the team, especially the younger ones.
“If any of the girls don’t have a drive to bring them to the training, she goes personally to pick them up and then drops them back after the training.
“So a girl who is doing so much for the sport, she deserves a chance to go the Olympics.”
Al Balooshi is, of course, thrilled to be making the trip to Rio. The Olympics have been a collective dream for her and her mother, who Al Balooshi describes as her staunchest supporter. She lost her father a few years back.
“This is what we have lived for and fought for,” said Al Balooshi, who is camping in Georgia now for her final preparations for the Games.
“All the struggle, the pain and the injuries seem worth it now. I hope this will inspire the other girls as well to take up sport - any sport, not just weightlifting. Nobody in my family ever tried weightlifting, but here I am. It shows anything is possible.”
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Indeed, anything is possible.
Three months ago, nobody would have even dreamt of Al Balooshi going to the Rio Olympics as the Emirati had injured her neck trying to lift 94kgs at the Asian Championships in Tashkent in April.
Al Balooshi had suffered neck injuries in the past as well, but this one had come at a really bad time.
Doctors advised her to go easy and not lift any weights for six months at least, but a determined Al Balooshi was back in training after three weeks.
“If we had to nominate our representative after Tashkent, she would not have been the one to get picked,” Bin Mejren said.
“Fortunately, this delay has allowed us to pick her because the coach says she is fine now and can participate.”
The spotlight is fixed firmly on her then, but Al Balooshi refuses to take any credit for her qualification, reminding everyone that it is a team effort which has earned the UAE a qualification berth.
“This is the second time we have qualified for the Olympics in succession, so it’s not just about me – it’s about the whole team,” said Al Balooshi, who was also a member of the UAE team that helped send Khadija Mohammed to the 2012 London Olympics.
“Yes, I am their leader. I am their mother, I am their sister; I am everything for them. But they are everything for me as well, they mean as much to me as I mean to them.
“Before any competition, we tell each other only one thing: ‘one soul, one team’.”
With that motto and the well wishes of her family and teammates, and indeed the whole country, Al Balooshi ventures out, hoping the Rio Olympics will finally bring those “why weightlifting?” queries to an end.
arizvi@thenational.ae
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