Overlooked

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Wed Aug 18, 2004 8:41 am

Ahmed Al Maktoum's six-year quest for Olympic glory ended with a historic first ever gold for the United Arab Emirates yesterday after he clinched the men's double trap shooting event.
Shaikh Ahmed, a member of Dubai's ruling family, became the first athlete from the UAE to win an Olympic medal of any colour with a superb display of shooting at the Markopoulo Shooting Centre. (Gulf Daily News)

(AP)***Ahmed's performance was one of the most impressive so far at the Olympics. It didn't get much attention in today's papers. I wonder why.***

gullyj · **Posted:** Wed Aug 18, 2004 3:00 pm

The U.A.E. Olympics Committee was so impressed it was thinking of having the medal bronzed. (Ba-da-boom)
And how about that Markopoulo Shooting Centre? At first I thought it was named for famed noodle thief Marco Polo or wealthy Irish equestrian champion Mark O'Polo but, alas, it is merely for the site of the competition, the town of Markopoulo.

jjmoney62 · **Posted:** Wed Aug 18, 2004 4:23 pm

Is Marco Polo finally an aquatic Olympic sport this year? It's about time.

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Wed Aug 18, 2004 4:49 pm

You're all evading the question.

Wayne Countryman · **Posted:** Wed Aug 18, 2004 5:05 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
You're all evading the question.<hr></blockquote>The media have paid little attention because he's neither white nor an American.
Sure, he's royalty, but he's from a country few Americans know of. Worse, he's from that region where we don't like to see men with guns who aren't somehow helping to lower the price of gasoline.

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Wed Aug 18, 2004 7:51 pm

The Australian Bureau of Statistics points out this medal puts the UAE at the top of a medal tally prepared on a per capita basis.[ August 18, 2004: Message edited by: Paul Wiggins ]

Dyslexic · **Posted:** Wed Aug 18, 2004 8:31 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Paul Wiggins:
The Australian Bureau of Statistics points out this medal puts the UAE at the top of a medal tally prepared on a per capita basis.[ August 18, 2004: Message edited by: Paul Wiggins ]<hr></blockquote>UAE population: ~4 million.
UAE medal count: 1
ratio: 1 medal for every 4 million people.Slovakia population: ~5.4 million.
Slovakia medal count: 4
ratio: 1 medal for every 1.4 million people.

paulwiggins · **Posted:** Wed Aug 18, 2004 10:15 pm

That's excellent news. I imagine they got some medlas while that stats people were enjoying their other lives. I love stories about people from nations with lower gdp getting medals. I wish there were more to read.

Jackie · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 2004 12:42 am

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Wayne Countryman:
The media have paid little attention because he's neither white nor an American.
Sure, he's royalty, but he's from a country few Americans know of. Worse, he's from that region where we don't like to see men with guns who aren't somehow helping to lower the price of gasoline.<hr></blockquote>Speaking of (sorta), I was impressed with the sportsmanship displayed between the Moroccan and Iraqi soccer teams today. But I didn't get to see the end, and had to rip up the sports OLY wire before I finally FINALLY found the score. Never saw a story. Now, I know it wasn't a medal match, but.....

Word Herder · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 2004 9:21 am

His marksmanship may be impressive, but the dope is kissing a *loaded* shotgun.'Scuse me for shooting my mouth off.

Ryminia · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 2004 10:00 am

I'm curious. Would it be better if he were kissing an unloaded gun? I like to think that he's familiar enough with his equipment not to cause damage to himself or others while kissing it.My local paper usually only mentions the Olympics if a Georgian is competing or wins something. Other than that, no mention. I doubt the sports folks there even know where the U.A.E. is located.To answer the original question: I don't think the event is a particularly popular one. Even if he were American, at most he would have been a blurb at the bottom of Olympic coverage.[ August 19, 2004: Message edited by: JessicaN ]

ADKbrown · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 2004 3:13 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:
You're all evading the question.<hr></blockquote>I assumed your question was sarcastic. Were you serious in suggesting that this event was underplayed?

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 2004 3:21 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by ADKbrown:
I assumed your question was sarcastic. Were you serious in suggesting that this event was underplayed?<hr></blockquote>Yes.

ADKbrown · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 2004 3:57 pm

Really? Well, I don't know what you're driving at, unless you mean to suggest some anti-Arab or anti-gun bias in the media. By the way, what was so extraordinary about his performance?

gullyj · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 2004 4:38 pm

The guy did win the first-ever medal for U.A.E. and he tied the record doing it so it is a notable achievement.
I'd be among the first to jump on the American anti-Arab bias except no Canadian newpaper made mention of it outside of the teeny-tiny print results pages.
So I don't think anti-Arab bias is the reason, especially since the United Arab Emirates, outside of importing cheap domestic labour from Pakistan, is a fairly non-controversial nation.
I might be persuaded that it is an anti-gun thing. Of all the action that goes on at the Olympics, a guy holdng a gun (this being the exception) is not an exciting photo. I can't recall any coverage of shooting events in these parts except for the time a Canadian woman won a medal.
Another consideration: No American was in the final so it seems likely this event was written off the press release.
So to keep the teeter in this totter: yeah, the guy deserved some recognition for his accomplishment considering the amount of pages devoted to the Olympics but he's no Portuguese bobsled team.
The Toronto Star, by the way, ran an item at the end of a notebook column reporting that the shooter from India finished second. There was also a close-crop photo of him with his medal. No individual Indian athlete had ever won better than a bronze. (India did pocket 11 golds during the days of cricket, however.) A bit arcane, possibly, but there is a large South Asian population in Toronto that is being served.[ August 19, 2004: Message edited by: canuck ]

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 2004 4:42 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by ADKbrown:
Really? Well, I don't know what you're driving at, unless you mean to suggest some anti-Arab or anti-gun bias in the media. By the way, what was so extraordinary about his performance?<hr></blockquote>I think a lot of editors though twice about running a picture of an Arab fondling his gun.
I'm not suggesting that his record-tying achievement deserved section-front treatment, but it would be nice if we broadened our coverage a little bit. Even television carried the competition, live.

hound · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 2004 4:46 pm

Gotta luv that giant BERETTA logo. Great product placement.

SeaRaven · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 2004 5:01 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by blanp:

Even television carried the competition, live.<hr></blockquote>What have you told us about watching television?

Phillip Blanchard · **Posted:** Thu Aug 19, 2004 5:07 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by SeaRaven:
What have you told us about watching television?<hr></blockquote>It's well-established that I watch sporting events on television, usually with the sound off.

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