Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
BAHRAIN’S golden girl Maryam Yusuf Jamal is celebrating her 23rd birthday this week and says the best present she wants is further track success so she can bring glory to her adopted country.
The runner with a heart of a lion is seen above relaxing with a pair of real-life cubs after yet another arduous training session which ensures she keeps ahead of the competition.
In an exclusive interview with GulfWeekly from her base in Lausanne in Switzerland, shortly after winning three top races in succession including her first world championship title in the women’s 1,500 metres final in Japan, she described how she lives and breathes running.
She said: “I spend most of my time in training – like six hours a day – and I also do my training three times a year in high altitude for four weeks at a time.”
Maryam returns to Bahrain each month and has not visited her native Ethiopia since she left the trouble-torn African nation in 2002.
Jamal was born in the Arsi Zone in the Oromia region, an area famous for bringing runners to the world, including Haile Gebreselassie – considered to be one of the best distance runners of all time.
She fled with her husband, Tareq, due partially to the political oppression of her community.
Jamal had run a qualifying time for the Olympics but was refused permission to represent her home country by the Ethiopian Athletic Federation.
In 2004, she and her husband sought political asylum. She applied for multiple citizenship papers before Bahrain granted it to them in 2005 and she said: “I felt very happy”. Born Zenebech Tola, she changed her name to an Arabic one and competed in the Asian Games in Qatar in 2006.
Since then she has been flying high and is currently on track to qualify for this year’s World Athletics Final, which takes place in Stuttgart later this month.
The final is the season-ending event of the annual World Athletics Tour 2007 and athletes qualify by scoring points in meetings throughout the year.
Maryam is currently atop the women’s 1500m tour standings with 88 points. Qualifying actually ends on September 16 at the ISTAF Golden League meeting in Berlin – the day she celebrates her birthday.
But the lioness of the kingdom has only one thought on her mind: “To win the Olympics for Bahrain,” she said.
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
Q. How do you relax?
A. I enjoy watching television – especially sport!
Q. What is your favourite food?
A. Swiss fondue
Q. What is the last thing you do before a race?
A. Concentrate.
Q. What is it like to be married to the man who coaches you?
A. I am very lucky to have someone I know and trust.
Q. What are your future plans?
A. To help build a school for young children.
Exclusive
By Asama Salman
asma.salman@gulfweekly.com
