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UAE Princess Sheikha Maitha Mohammed Rashed al-Maktoum, who will compete in the taekwondo event in Beijing.
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It is not every day that a princess from a conservative Islamic nation comes to Korea, less still embraces the noble but unveiled and barefoot art of taekwondo. But for Sheikha Maitha Mohammed Rashed al-Maktoum, that is a boon. "I'm happy to train in the homeland of taekwondo,¡± she says. ¡°I feel more energetic than when I was training in my country."
The princess (28) of the United Arab Emirates arrived in Seoul on July 25 to train for the Beijing Olympics at Kyung Hee University. She learned martial arts including karate and kickboxing from her father from an early age. The 180 cm tall beauty is actually more famous for her karate skills than taekwondo: in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, she won the first Asian Game silver in karate for her country. She also competed in karate in the 2002 Busan Asian Games. But in 2004, she began taekwondo training and dreamed of competing in the Olympics. She says taekwondo requires more concentration and hard work than karate.
Her father is Sheik Mohammed al-Maktoum, the Dubai ruler and the UAE prime minister, a more traditional sportsman in horse riding. But the princess says her whole family is talented in sports, citing an elder cousin who won gold in shooting in the 2004 Athens Games, and another three members of her family, two men and one woman, competing in the shooting and horse riding in Beijing.
Her status as an Olympic wild card raised suspicions of nepotism. But she defends saying, "I'm just an athlete. The entry pick was decided by the UAE National Olympic Committee through consultation. I don't know about politics."
Instead of the leisured life of a royal from one of the richest families in the world, she has chosen grueling training and cutthroat competition. "I started martial arts as a hobby, but now it has become my true dream,¡± she says. ¡°It's difficult at times but I'm proud and happy to contribute to my country through sports.¡±
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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