Faisal Faisal

Faisal Faisal
Full name	فيصل غازي فيصل
nation	Iraq
birthday	October 18, 1980
place of birth	Baghdad
Career
status	active
Placements in the WC / EC / NAC / IC
Debut in the European Cup 2005 Debut North American Cup 2005 Debut in the Interconti-Cup 2008

Faisal Faisal ( Arabic فيصل غازي فيصل, DMG Fayṣal Ġāzī Fayṣal , born October 18, 1980 in Baghdad ) is an Iraqi skeleton pilot .

Faisal Faisal comes from a sporty family, his uncle Talib Faisal still holds the Iraqi record in the 400-meter run. From three to seven he lived in Wales with his mother, who studied architecture. He initially played football and athletics at a higher level and was the regional 200-meter record holder. He also tried other sports, such as water skiing on the Tigris . Since 1998 he has tried winter sports to represent Iraq at the Winter Olympics. Attempts to train in Great Britain, Ireland or Canada failed because visas were refused, only the attempt to study and train in Australia brought success for Faisal. On the way to Australia he attended the opening ceremony of the1998 Winter Olympics from Nagano part. In Australia he tried his hand at various ski sports, snowboarding and speed skating until 2004 . The qualification for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City failed at the NOK of Iraq. In 2005 he decided to switch to skeleton and wanted to take part in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin . He contested his first race as part of the Skeleton America's Cup in January of that year in Lake Placid , where he finished 30th and 32nd. Further races followed in November with results in the low 20 range. Further appearances in the Skeleton European Cup and the Skeleton Challenge Cup followed by January . However, he did not qualify for the Olympic Games. It was not until November 2007 that he took part in further competitions. Since 2008 Faisal started in the second highest racing series organized by the FIL . He finished the first race in Park City 23rd, the best result was 21st in the same place. In February he took part in a major event for the first time. Faisal finished 28th at the 2009 Skeleton World Championship .

Faisal Faisal is the first and only Iraqi to date to practice skeleton. He often trains with the US national team. Before the 2006 Games in particular, he stayed in the US for a long time, where coaches such as Jim Shea took care of him. Faisal himself has to pay for the costs of his sport.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ An Iraqi dream: Winter Olympics or bust (English)
2. ↑ Faisal Faisal: an Iraqi's quest (English)
3. ↑ An Iraqi's Quest to Compete in the Winter Olympics (English)
4. ↑ Iraqi athlete excels in first skeleton competition (English)
5. ↑ Iraqi Skeleton Athlete Taking Another Shot (English)
6. ↑ If the Olympic Spirit is not about this, then it is about nothing ( Memento of the original dated November 9, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)  
7. ↑ Iraqi Slides Toward Olympics (English)
8. ↑ Iraqi student's Olympic dream recedes (English)