The now 52-year-old Mansour may not ring a bell among the current generation of sports fans, but it was he who put Qatar on the world sports map in the 1980s and early 90s during which he scorched the track with his trailblazing runs and came to be known as the ‘Sprint King of Asia’.
Mansour made the world sit up and take notice when he broke Japan’s and China’s stranglehold in the sprints by winning the gold in the 100m at the 1986 Asian Games in Seoul. He repeated the feat four years later at the Beijing Asian Games and in 1994 claimed the 100 and 200m sprint double at the 1994 event in Hiroshima.
It’s safe to say that had this happened in this era of all-pervasive television and information overload, Mansour would have been the stuff of celluloid dreams. In fact, his background and his rise to global fame could well form an attractive topic for a blockbuster biopic, or even a full length feature film.
Imagine this: a large family of nomads wander into Qatar from the Rub Al Khali Desert (Empty Quarter), the largest contiguous sand desert in the world with an area spanning 650,000 square kilometres which include parts of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and Yemen. They set up base in Doha, and from such beginnings rises a boy who would go on to become a role model for the country.
Mansour now plays an active role with the Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF) in spotting talented young athletes and nurturing them. He means business when he speaks and when he says certain athletes would go far, it would be foolhardy to dismiss him offhand.
Yesterday at a press conference to introduce some of the Qatari athletes participating in the Doha Diamond League meeting on May 5, Mansour spoke highly of them, saying they have the potential to make their mark on the world scene if they kept their focus.
He spoke of the days when his rivals would panic when they saw him lining up alongside them at international meets. “They feared me, the Japanese, the Chinese. I would like the young Qatari athletes to do the same to their rivals as they progress in their careers,” Mansour said.
He singled out hammer thrower Ashraf Elseify, middle distance specialist Abdulrahman Samba and female sprinter Mariam Farid for special praise.
“I have been watching Mariam during her training sessions at the Aspire Academy and I would like to see her improve a lot with her participation at the Doha Diamond League. She has great talent. Abdulrahman has been also doing well and should touch new highs,” said the Qatari legend.
The 19-year-old Mariam was enthused by the praise and promised to do her best. “It’s a matter of great pride and honour for me to be applauded by a legendary athlete like Talal Mansour. His words will surely inspire me,” she added.
Thirteen Qatari athletes will compete in the Doha Diamond League meet at which 16 reigning Olympic and world champions have been confirmed.
The competition will be also an opportunity for Qatar’s two-time Olympic medallist Mutaz Barshim, who is gunning for Cuban Sotomayer’s world record of 2.45m. Barshim’s best is 2.43m, set in 2014.
Femi Ogunode, who set a world leading time of 9.82 seconds at the Emir Cup athletics meet will be another athlete to watch out for. Others include his younger brother Tosin Ogunode (100m), Mohamed Nasir Abbas (400m), as well as Qatar’s Youth Olympic silver medallist Hamza Driouch (1,500m).
Samba will compete against some of the best athletes in the world in the 400m hurdles event. Earlier in March, the 22-year-old cruised to victory in the Sasol-NWU International meeting in South Africa with a time 48.31 seconds.
