With the 2006 Asian Games, here the road race for women cyclists, sport in Qatar took on a new meaning, especially for women.
Photo: image/HochZwei
Fatma Al-Ghanim seems nostalgic when she thinks of December 2006. At that time, the Asian Games took place in the Qatari capital Doha, with almost 10,000 athletes from 45 nations. It was the biggest sporting event in the Middle East up to that point. At that time she was still a teenager. “Back then, people were able to follow such a big event up close for the first time,” she says. “One of the most important legacies was that many of them wanted to do more sport themselves, especially women. And the support from their families grew as well.«
Al-Ghanim is sitting in a café in West Bay, in Doha’s business district. Her phone screen shows a photo of American football. She says she is interested in many sports, particularly in the US where she has lived for a longer period of time. She has tried a few sports herself. She went swimming, jogging and went on bike rides. Since 2018 she has combined these disciplines in triathlon. Initially as a leisure activity, now in competitions. »I wanted to challenge myself and test my limits.«
The soccer World Cup in Qatar is entering its final phase. The tournament was awarded to the Persian Gulf twelve years ago. And the triathlete Al-Ghanim thinks that a positive development can be seen from the example of sport. She’s not talking about modern stadiums or sponsors in professional football, but about physical exercise. “In Qatar, many people have realized that sport is part of a healthy lifestyle.” Messages like this also have a political dimension in Qatar. Because Al-Ghanim comes from a country that has only had a national team of women footballers since 2009 and has only sent women to the Olympic Games since 2012.
Like Saudi Arabia, Qatar is characterized by Wahhabism, a traditionalist interpretation of Sunni Islam. Women still have to get permission from a male guardian for a number of issues. For example, if they want to get married, work in a public job or study abroad. For decades there were hardly any spaces where women without traditional clothing could exercise themselves physically.
According to the World Health Organization, 17 percent of Qataris live with diabetes and more than 70 percent are overweight. Heart disease and vascular diseases will also place a long-term burden on the healthcare system. The ruling family wants to keep the costs within limits – also with mass sport as a prevention.
Qatar has celebrated a national sports day every year since 2012. The Emir and his family can be filmed while running or playing tennis. Women in leadership positions also publish sporting photos on social media. Twenty years ago, that was unthinkable in Qatar’s patriarchal society. “Bike paths, fitness studios and sports halls are being created,” says Al-Ghanim, who works full-time for the Doha Film Institute.
Qatar has now hosted hundreds of competitive sports events, including the 2015 Handball World Championships. In some of the halls from back then, popular sports are now guests: badminton, karate and archery. Sports scientists at Qatar University are developing training courses for physiotherapists and teachers. According to the official message, sport should be anchored more firmly in schools. In addition, ideas are bundled in a social network. The title: »Generation Amazing«.
However, all these government offers are primarily aimed at the approximately 300,000 Qatari citizens. But they only make up 10 percent of the population. Almost 60 percent of the residents come from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. They work in construction, in gastronomy, as domestic workers. In the scarce amount of free time they have, their range of motion is severely restricted. They are usually denied access to shopping malls, cinemas and other recreational facilities. Most offers are unattainable anyway because of the costs.
“On the weekends, many workers play cricket in the parks, every free space is used,” says Susan Dun of Northwestern University in Doha. In their estimation, new leisure facilities have been built for a number of workers on the World Cup construction sites. “But for the vast majority of migrant workers who have nothing to do with the World Cup, there aren’t enough sports facilities.” Especially since the accommodation is mostly on the outskirts of Doha. Dun thinks that sport could promote the integration of migrant workers into society, with city runs or football games together. The Qatari professional league, she says, should also approach migrant workers more intensively. Especially since the clubs only attract a few hundred spectators on average. Concrete concepts for this do not exist. And so the impression seems to be confirmed once again that the ruling family is not really interested in integration. However, Dun does not want to give up when she says: »When I first came to Qatar in 2008, there were hardly any sports activities for women. Many fitness and yoga studios have now opened. Offers have also grown for sportswear and equipment.«
The focus around the World Cup is still on human rights violations. Since the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Qatar has also been in the spotlight as a gas exporter. In his new book, the Islamic scholar Sebastian Sons suggests that other forms of cooperation would be possible in addition to an energy partnership, in renewable energies, in waste management – or even in popular sports. “The German club and association system is very much appreciated in Qatar,” says Sons. But he also points to the political significance. At the national sports days, the Emir likes to present himself as active, health-conscious and sociable. An image that aims to strengthen the identification of the locals with their state and is ultimately subordinate to the primary goal: maintaining the power of the ruling family.
