Amr Obaid (Cairo)
Omar Al Marzouqi and Safia Al Sayegh were honoured to raise the UAE flag during the official opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in an event that will take place for the first time in the history of the Olympics.
Al Marzouqi, the “knight” of our national show jumping team, is 21 years old, while Al Sayegh, the star of our national cycling team, is approaching 23, as she is exactly 22 years, 10 months and a few days old. Both are among the youngest Emirati champions who have had the honour of raising the country’s flag in the Olympics for 40 years.
The “Roll of Honour” includes 10 Emirati sports champions who raised the UAE flag in the Olympics, but swimmer Yousef Al Matrooshi is the youngest person to have had the honour of raising the country’s flag in the history of the Summer Olympics, as he dominated the scene in “Tokyo 2020”, which was postponed to “Summer 2021” due to the “Corona pandemic”, and he was 18 years and 52 days old at the time.
Mohammed Khalifa Al Marri, a player in our national swimming team, topped the list when he raised the UAE flag in the “Seoul 1988” Olympics, when he was 19 years old. He remained so until swimmer Nada Al Badawi surpassed him when she had the honor of raising the flag in “Rio de Janeiro 2016”, and she was only 10 days away from turning 19. Meanwhile, Nabil Tahlak, a player in our shooting team, remains the oldest to have had the honor of raising the UAE flag at the age of 39, and that was in the “Atlanta 1996” Olympics.
His Highness Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum raised the UAE flag 3 times, in 3 different Olympic Games, starting with “Sydney 2000” at the age of 24, passing through “Athens 2004” at the age of 28, and ending with “London 2012” at the age of 36, in the shooting competitions.
The first appearance of Emirati girls in the honor roll of raising the flag was by Her Highness Sheikha Maitha bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, at the age of 28, in the “Beijing 2008” Olympics in the “Taekwondo” competitions.
According to the data available in the databases of the Olympic Games throughout history, swimmer Obaid Al Rumaithi is the youngest Emirati athlete to participate in the Summer Olympics, as he was 16 years and 127 days old when he participated in “Seoul 1988”, while Sheikh Ahmed bin Hasher Al Maktoum is considered the oldest, when he participated in the “Beijing 2008” Olympics at the age of 44 years and 226 days.
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