Al Itihad Newspaper (Abu Dhabi)
1-)Princess Haya is a rider and the first Arab Princess to reach International Sports arena’s, why equestrianism when there are other more classy sports? And why show jumping not another kind of equestrianism?
I believe that equestrianism is part of our heritage as Arabs, but more importantly, it was the sport that my father God rest his soul, felt was the most classy, and the most suitable for his daughter. He affected my life and my future undeniably, when I was six years old, by giving me first two camels, and then a filly on my birthday that was born and whose mother died in birth. I called the filly, “Bint Al Reeh”. Bint Al Reeh’s mother had jumped for the Royal Stables. At that time there were no horse shows like today. The Royal Stables competed against the Police Stables for “The King’s Cup.” The competition was not only jumping, it was horsemanship in total. There was tent pegging, when horses gallop and the rider has to use a spear to get a paper target on the ground. There was jumping, but high jumping; they jumped over cars too sometimes. There was vaulting, when the rider would gallop and stand up straight on their horse’s backs at full gallop. And working with the falcons. No girls ever took part in this competition, and at the time, the Police stables had won the King’s Cup for many years in succession from the Royal stables. Throughout my life, I wished only to please my father; I loved him more than anything in the world. So when he gave me Bint Al Reeh, I decided that we would win the “Kings Cup” back for the Royal Stables. I could not practice on her but that was the sole focus of my early experience with horses. I practiced on other horses. The experience has helped me greatly in my sporting career now. I learned to work the falcons; I learned to stand on a horses back at a full gallop. I even can still do a handstand on a horse back now when they are galloping. I learned to spear a target on the ground from full gallop, but what was hardest thing for me was the jumping. My character has always been to chase a challenge, never to accept what seems impossible, no matter what. So I worked on the jumping. I kept working on it, finally when I was 15, I jumped over a car. Perhaps the fact that, jumping was hard made me pursue it. I found it difficult, and what was easy to me became boring. So I kept jumping.My first love in Sports was gymnastics, but my father preferred horses. From the age of six, to twelve I trained three or four hours a day to be a gymnast. What captured me about sports was the pursuit of excellence. I was fascinated as a young child by the Olympic Games. I first noticed it when in 1980; my father started talking about the American Boycott of the Moscow Olympic Games, because of the Soviet involvement in Afghanistan. I watched those Games because he spoke about them, but once I saw them I noticed something in the athletes. They were heroes the best in the world; they all had a look in their eyes that defied the limits of their bodies. After that, I was committed to ride an Olympics myself. I did not choose jumping as my equestrian discipline, it chose me. I did all the other disciplines as a child, and still do now. Any involvement a rider has that sharpens his intuition to horses, helps at this level. I ride racehorses, I vault still, I can play polo, and do dressage. But I only wanted to do what was not easy for me. Jumping was hard, and I wanted to find my limit, the difficulties made me think, and thinking made it interesting.
2-)Princess Haya raised the flag of Jordan in the Olympics, and insisted on being treated like any other athlete and stayed in a normal room in the Olympic village…Does the Princess carry burdens of her title in competitions? And does the title occupy her thoughts and affect wins and loses?
At first, my title affected me. I wanted to make friends and be part of a team of people who could talk about horses. I wanted to share my love and my interest in the sport with others. My title did not affect this, but the entourage, the security and the protocol made people scared to approach me at competitions when I was young. I thought about competing under another name. but decided that running from a problem would not solve it, only postpone it. You can run from many things in life, but you can’t run from yourself. I learned to live with my title, to accept, and to be proud that I was my parents’ daughter. What I wanted was to earn the title, in the sports field though. So I fought to do it the hard way, my favorite word in life is, “why.” That taught me many things.People may feel that staying in a normal room in Sydney, and asking to be treated like any other athlete is strange for a Princess, but that is not my problem, it’s the problem of those who have formed a preconceived idea about the institution of monarchy. The material facets of the institution are not what matters, the real issues count. I wanted to go to an Olympic games, I fought hard to get there, because I thought the spirit and philosophy of the games was beautiful. I wanted to live it, I wanted to taste it, and I earned my right to that. I wanted to be an Olympic Athlete, and I looked forward to doing all that they did. The Village and the dorms were wonderful. I got to spend 16 days with people who love sports like I do, I learned from them, I made friends for life. Most of all, I realized that all my life people have thought I was/strange, in the Arab world, I have felt that my passion for sports, my determination has been misunderstood because its different. I spoke to other people in the village, and for the first time I felt comfortable, I did not need to explain anything. They did not care if I was a Princess or not, what they cared about was simple, was I a winner? Did I have that fire in my soul that could push me past the limits of my own body? Was I determined enough to fight without reserve? They looked at me, and asked me questions that counted, real questions, they respected me, without ever asking about palaces or rooms or protocol. I loved it.
3-)How does the Princess choose her horses? Is there a special bond with her horses?
I do not choose my horses, they choose me. I see thousands of horses every year competing and training. Some are great, and some are more than that. They may not be horses that are great at the time, but they have something special to them. The flash of an eye, a presence, a wild character that refuses to be tamed, its not always positive, but its just a thing that makes me know I am drawn to them. Makes me believe that they have a special magic that will be a winning streak if I can make it turn my way. I relied on that instinct all my life, it never gave me a had horse. But many, many people on the circuit have said I am crazy many times when I brought a horse. They have said time after time, I can never manage them that they are too difficult, but I always found a way. One little positive trait in the horses character to believe in, and that glimmer of hope I can use to make the horse turn all that’s negative my way. Of course, I have a special bond with them, we are a team. I do not “ride” horses, when I sit on a horse's back; we are one, one heart, one mind, one aim. Hours of training goes into to refining that.
4-)Princess Anne wrote a book about her life and Equestrianism and said she was looking for a way to live in peace with herself and found that equestrianism gave her psychological balance and control over oneself in hard times…Did the Princess find this psychological balance?
No I did not. I never needed to find it. I was brought up in strong family full of love. I am secure with myself, and when times were hard I only had to think of my parents and my roots to know I could overcome whatever stood in my way. I have a peaceful place inside my heart all the time. When I feel like times are hard I only have to close my eyes and take a deep breath, I say a prayer, and the world feels good again. No, horses are not my source of balance, horses are my source of expression, they are the vehicles that allow me to express my soul by just being a part of them. when I am sitting on a horse, that’s who I am. It’s my soul in the clear light of day.
5-)Princess does numerous strange things activities like getting a truck-driving license and is now President of the truck drivers union and also played football in Jordan…What was the Princess looking for? And what is she looking for in her life?
I did not do numerous strange activities. I lost my mother when I was young. I was brought up by my father, I wanted to be a boy. I was brought up like a boy, my father brought me up the best way. Arab women throughout history were integral part of society. They went to war, and rode horses, and stood strong and active behind their men. They were admired for their strength and for their ability, not deemed as strange. I got a truck driving license because I wanted to learn to drive my horses. I became President of the union because the truck drivers adopted me, and they cared about me. They may be deemed as simple people, but they are not, they are the blood of our country, they ship our water and import the oil and fuel that makes Jordan self sufficient. They work harder and longer than most people, and they invite me to their homes, and feed me when their own children are hungry. I am honored that they chose me to be their President, and if I can give them one quarter of the love, and support that they have given me, protect them in their work place, then I am proud. I play football, because if eleven men can chase a leather ball then so can I, is there a rule against it? And just for the record, I am a good football player. My favorite position is left wing, and I am very fast.
6-)Psychiatrists say when a girl is famous in her early days make her feel lonely in crowds…She doesn’t see except smiles and hears people talk in a nice way… she looses her freedom…except training and being professional in sports…Was this the reason behind moving abroad to escape from fame and traditions?
Many people close to me, whom I care about have died in my life. Too many, not only my parents. I have noticed one thing that death does to Arabs. Those people were people who strived all their lives to try and be their dreams, and others never accepted it in their lifetime. But death does a strange thing in our culture. It strips the person of the thing they fought for others to accept in life, and all of a sudden in death, they are placed on a pedestal. Its one of the few things in life that make me sad. It makes me so sad to think of the people that were dear to me, that had to die, to be accepted, and in their lifetimes, they could never really enjoy the acceptance and the appreciation for what they strive for in their living days. We who are left behind make peace with them because perhaps they had ideas that were different, or they had ideas, or ways of doing things that were out of the ordinary, and that scares others. Change is a hard thing for people to accept. Most extraordinary people are opposed, because they are not conventional. Those who are left behind regret their judgmental attitude, they regret the fragility of life, and they regret not real sing that people who have passed would not be there forever. They get over their guilt by championing the causes of the people who they have opposed after they die.I have a question…Do I have to bear this thing that I have recognized in my life, as my own fate? I may seem strange, I understand that, everyday when people talk to me they ask me questions that make me realize they don’t understand me, I realize they don’t see my soul, and they look for reasons for my motivation, my work, my sport. You ask me if I am escaping, by going to Europe, others ask me that every day. Am I running away form fame and traditions? I am in a public arena, unprotected by the institutions of monarchy, and fame is my companion. My work is a spectator sport!! And traditions? I break bones, and cry and sweat every single day to see me flag go up in arena’s all over the world, I take risks in the ring knowing the pain a fall will cause, only to hear the national anthem of my country, “Long live the King..” What traditions am I running from? Life is wonderful in Jordan. I can live in a palace, I can have what I want, I am surrounded by a family who love me, people who love me, I love the food and the weather. And yet I choose to go to a cold climate, a city where I know nobody, and spend 7 hours a day with horses. Escaping would not be a good enough reason to do that. I grew up loving my father and understanding even more now, what an honor it was carrying the flag in the Sydney Olympics. Nobody will ever know how heavy that flag was for me, I looked at it before the opening ceremony, we flag bearers were separated from our delegations. I looked at it and I asked myself, “Is this the symbol my parents lived for, or the symbol I should blame for their deaths.” I know that both my parents loved their country they would have died a million deaths for their people, but I saw this flag age them, and tire them, and take them away form me. I felt that both my parents were there with me then, and I understood that I would die for that flag as they did. A million deaths if I could. It was a light easy to carry around the track after that.Can’t people finally understand that, all my life I have understood my parents true spirits, I know with all my heart what they scarified and why. I have found a way with my horses to raise the flag they died for, them and many others. I have found a reason to keep living myself, and to keep them alive in my heart. That’s through my sport. It keeps their dreams alive in my heart; I can serve them in my own way as I am. Its not just about a sport and horses, it’s a service to my country, its one I love, and one I can do.People think I am strong because I lived through a lot in my life. But I lived because I found reasons to live, and reasons to thank god for the gift of life. I live to protect my sister Abir and my brother Ali. I live to watch my mother’s family, recover from their loss, and I live to see Jordan continue to grow under King Abdullah in a way that would make my father so proud of him. But I have one thing left for myself, one personal private passion, and that’s horses and the pursuit of excellence, and seeing my flag go up. It makes me feel worthy. Its my way to thank the people of Jordan for giving to me all that they have. Why do you make that ugly? Why do people try and explain that by saying I am escaping form all I hold dear? Why can’t that simple concept be understood for the pure thing it is, instead you and other’s make it into a sophisticated psychiatric concept? Do you want me to sit at home and wait for a husband to claim me? I am my father’s daughter, he told me when God chose fate, no matter what I was doing my life would stop. I believe that. I don not have to wait at home for that. I can serve my flag at the same time.Do I need to die too before people understand that what I do is what I love to do? If I had the facilities, and the chance to be an Olympic athlete based in Jordan, I would do it in the blink of an eye. But tell me what Arab country produced an Olympic show jumper nationally? None. I am running from nothing.I pray people will let me know they understood during my lifetime, that I have chosen this as my work, not my hobby, that I have chosen to learn all I can about it, and that I have accepted every day will be yet more learning. That I love this sport, and that when I am finished I want to help people in my reason learn from my mistakes. Only other’s can choose to give me that chance. I will keep going, I believe in what I do, I will smile and look at my flag if I am ever in doubt, I know how heavy that flag is, and the blood that made the red as deep as it is.
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