SOP Finals End with Some Exciting Wins for GES Pupils

This season, GES competed in the School Olympic Program from Primary to Secondary levels. The number of pupils competing in sport has risen from just a handful to over 250 and this number will likely increase next year. The categories in which GES was represented are shown in the table below. This shows that boys and girls are competing in a wide variety of sports and that there are now many opportunities for all students with different skills and interests to take part in competitions.

With the exception of three teams, all boys’ and girls’ teams won sufficient games to reach either the quarter or semi-finals of their competition groups. This is a significant improvement on previous years, both in terms of the level of performance and in the number of children who have now experienced success in sport. We are very pleased with their performance this year. The School also had 18 pupils who reached the finals, and so this past Thursday and Friday we went along with our finalists to Aspire to compete for the last time this season. There were some very exciting moments and some fantastic performances. The last of the competitions included swimming, athletics, shooting and taekwondo.

Swimming – unexpected moments

Our finals’ swimming squad included Hala Haboub(Y11), Shorouk Hassan (Y11), Habiba Fhamy (Y7), Habiba Fhamy (Y6), Hana Shalaby (Y6) and Mayville Awny (Y6).  We were very excited about this as we were hopeful of a medal in the Primary category. The wait on the starting blocks was long and intense and this made Habiba nervous. As the nerves got the better of her, she changed her starting position several times and couldn’t get comfortable. A fraction of a second before the buzzer went she actually lost her balance and fell into the water. And then the other competitors were off… poor Habiba had to swim back to the wall and then try to catch up.  Despite having a swimming time that would have taken the gold medal, she just didn’t have enough time to pull it back. We were so sorry for her as it was such a frustrating and unexpected moment.  Soon after, we had our spirits lifted by Hala Haboub who managed to take the bronze medal for Secondary Girls Freestyle. Again, it was a win that we weren’t so sure of in advance and very unexpected for Hala herself.  This was a much nicer ‘unexpected moment’ J

Shooting – things get rowdy in the tent

Farid Hassan (Y8) was our lone rifle man. Having only just narrowly made our team, we were just happy that he was in the finals. The shooting tent is a very calm and considered environment, as both shooters and spectators hold their breath for every shot. The ‘GES support team’ soon changed all that! Farid was focused and collected in his approach and after a couple of coaching points from Mr. Danny, he managed to shoot with more accuracy and consistency – exactly what is needed for this sport. The tent was silent while the boys were shooting but at the end of every round, the GES team could not contain the cheers and applause.  This soon caught on as all spectators shared our mood. Each round was exciting, particularly as they started eliminating players after every two rounds. With two rounds to go, it was announced that in fact Farid was by then so far ahead that it was no longer possible to lose the gold. Still, he played his last rounds with the same composure to achieve a very exciting and very well deserved win.  Miss Angela, Miss Eve, Mr. Danny and I cheered on behalf of the whole school… and made enough noise for everybody.

Athletics – where are my athletes?

Our female athletics competitors included Toschi Omah (Y6), Amna Al Malki (Y6), AlAnood Al Dolaimi (Y9), Jawaher Al Misned (Y11) and Mariam Farid (Y12). The athletics events started more than one and a half hours late, which kind of set the tone for the day. Having registered the children correctly and left them with their chaperones, it later transpired that the organizers had sent the children away. As the events started, I was not the only teacher running around the track looking for competitors that should have been seated in the holding area. The long jump was called and our girls were nowhere to be found. Eventually we found a group of girls who had been sent away from the track, and with literally seconds to spare, myself and the another teacher got our girls down to the long jump pit as the event started. A little flustered by all the drama, Toschi managed to regain her focus and went on to take the silver medal. Very well done to her, particularly under the circumstances.

The 60m sprint was less dramatic, as I kept Mariam with me on the track, despite her being told to leave.  We were determined not to be moved from the track and stood fast, this enabled us to ensure there was no chance for her to miss the race.  Spirits were once again as Mariam to the silver medal for this event.

The 200m event was possibly the most dramatic. This came sometime after the 60m sprint and was the event we were most looking forward to. Again, as they called for the race to start, I found myself shouting ‘where is my runner?’ It emerged that again, the organizers had told her to leave the track. She was nowhere to be found as one by one the other runners starting arriving.  All were taken by surprise as they had been told to come back in an hour but just happened to be near enough to hear the call. Once seven runners were on the track, the organizers decided they would not wait for Mariam. Again, I found myself running from place to place and putting out calls for our athlete. Mariam arrived just as ‘on your marks’ was called. I ran onto the track so that they couldn’t start and they agreed to wait a minute. Mariam came to the track and tried to get her running shoes on but again, they called ‘on your marks’. It was really very tense as they call ‘get set’, but as they did, a marshal noticed that one girl’s foot was over the line.  They had to call a halt and ensure she was lined up correctly and this gave Mariam just enough time to tie her shoes laces before they had restarted the race. With our hearts in our mouths, we breathed a sigh of relief as she took off and effortlessly and gracefully steamed through to take the gold medal.  A great win and dramatic finish to the girls’ day.

Taekwondo – an exciting fight

The last event for us to watch was the Secondary Boys Taekwondo, in which Mohammed Amin competed at open weight. He arrived well before his fight and went through his usual warm-up and pre-fight rituals. As he prepared, fights in the lower categories were being fought with increasing intensity as the age and weight categories got higher.  That set the scene for a very exciting fight against an opponent who believed he had every chance of taking gold. 

With a large fan base behind him, the shouting and cheering was fevered from the off. Not to be ‘out-cheered’, our small team made sure Amin could hear us shouting for him all the way through. His opponent struck out hard and fast in the first few seconds and quickly took 4 points. Amin remained composed and quickly tied the score. Before the end of the first round he was ahead. The score then bounced between being tied and Amin going ahead by one or two points. The fight became more heated and half way through, his opponent threw a late punch into Amin’s throat after being told to break. All jumped to their feet as Amin dropped to the ground and the medics had to attend. Fortunately, after a brief time, he was able to continue. He came back out fighting, and both fought hard. In the final round, Amin managed to stay ahead by at least two points all the way, and then convincingly finished the fight four points up. Despite being the majority of the spectators being there to support his opponent, his win met with thunderous cheers and applause. Everybody in attendance had enjoyed the fight and absolutely respected his win. This young man is an excellent athlete and is outstanding in the manner in which he conducts himself.  He was clearly deserving of his gold medal and of the respect he was given by every spectator there on the day. This was a great way to end the season and everybody left feeling elated.  Congratulations to all of our medal winners, we are very pleased with their success.

GES Medalists:

1x gold –         Secondary Boys Taekwondo               Mohammed Amin Y11

1x gold –         Secondary Girls 200m                         Mariam Farid Y12

1x gold –         Preparatory Boys Shooting                 Farid Hassan Y8

1x silver –        Secondary Girls 60m Sprint                Mariam Farid Y12

1x silver –        Primary Girls Long Jump                    Toschi Omah Y6

1x bronze –     Preparatory Boys Taekwondo             Anas BenSahra Y9

2x bronze –     Primary Girls Fencing                         Najood Al Kubaisi Y7, Waad Madeed Y7

1x bronze –     Secondary Girls Swimming                 Hala Haboub Y11

We will start registering competitors for next season in May this year and look forward to many more exciting competitions. May thanks to Miss Angela, Mr. Danny, Miss Eve and Miss Danyo for their support during the finals, and of course to pupils and parents for making it possible to be there at all.