Crossfit in the UAE

Bodybuilding, it was reported recently, is taking off in the United Arab Emirates, and there was more than a little (English and Arabic language) media coverage given to Dubai-based personal trainer Haifa Musawi, aka "the first Gulf Arab female bodybuilder", at the start of this year. Now comes news that Emirati women are taking up Crossfit in ever-increasing numbers. And crucially, unlike the female bodybuilders, it's a sport in which they are able to compete for their country.



The name at the forefront of Emirati women's Crossfit is Nuha Almarri, the first woman from the UAE to have competed in international events. There were very few Arab girls initially, she says. I clearly remember in 2014 there were only seven Arab girls competing in Kuwait at the Battle of the East. That number went to 10 the following year. The interest is growing and more Arab girls are being drawn to the sport and even taking it up as a profession.


Nuha competes in her first Crossfit competition, August 2014

Her passion for sport was ignited at school, where she did gymnastics, then basketball and athletics, and while doing her Business Management degree in Dubai she continued to run, and also started weight training. Then, in 2013, she discovered Crossfit and was immediately hooked. I like the challenge it provides, she says.



If you are waiting for the "overcame cultural prejudice about women in sport" bit, then here it comes - she found it quite difficult to convince her mother that Crossfit was the profession for her. But over a period of time she realised that my heart and soul is in it, says Nuha. When your family starts backing you in what you do, then things become a lot easier. And Nuha's sister, Latifa, has also taken up the sport.


Nuha (centre) with sister Latifa (left)

Latifa says that she was "into Muay Thai" before she discovered Crossfit "was more fun", and if this isn't sounding like the kind of story you would expect to hear when reading about Emirati women and sport, then believe me, it isn't the kind of story I expected to be writing! Where's the prejudice?! Where's the struggle?!



Actually, the Almarri sisters do acknowledge they haven't had it as tough as the majority of Emirati women, and the numbers actually participating in Crossfit and Crossfit competitions are hardly earth-shattering. But when you consider that just a few years ago the number of women would have been zero, you can see why organisers like Dunia Khaleel are getting excited about the future. The sport is making giant strides within the UAE, she says. Around 15 Emirati women athletes participated in the Abu Dhabi Throwdown. We didn’t do any advertising for the event and still so many ladies came, and we had competitors from Qatar and Oman as well.



Nuha at the recent Abu Dhabi Throwdown

This all sounds rather hopeful - and not at all what I would have expected to find in a country and region that my own ideas about clearly need recalibrating. I want to qualify for all the major CrossFit tournaments globally and try and win medals there, says Nuha Almarri. My goal is to put UAE on the map and show that UAE women are not behind in anything. She can already count me as shown!



استمتع!

The Strong Arms of the Law

After yesterday's Bad Girls, today it's the Good Cop. A bikini-clad Swedish police officer has been praised for tackling a suspected thief while she was off-duty sunbathing with friends in Stockholm, said the BBC, while The Sun (as you'd expect) somewhat more dramatically headlined the story: The incredible moment swimsuit-wearing off-duty cop pins down thief who stole sunbathers’ mobile phones.



He seemed a poor homeless guy trying to do the right thing, selling newspapers rather than begging, said the "bikini-clad Swedish police officer" who posted the pic to her Instagram. When we didn't buy his newspaper he tried to steal my cell phone!



He had picked the wrong woman to steal from. Mikaela Kellner is not just a police officer who has appeared on the Swedish version of Ninja Warrior, but also describes herself as an athlete, a powerlifter and a Crossfitter - "toughest competitor alive". This was the first time in my 11 years as a police officer that I have intervened while wearing a bikini, she said. I must say it was pretty good fun and rather pleasant.



The BBC made no mention at all of Mikaela's athleticism. Not so The Sun. There can be no dispute about who came out on top, exclaimed reporter Danny Collins, with the muscle-bound cop holding the man in an arm lock. He may have thought twice had he known that the sunbathing policewoman was a champion bodybuilder!



Mikaela and friends, including (top left) Amanda Almroth and (bottom right) Jenny Adolfsson

Mikaela's muscles hadn't escaped the attention of the fan forums even before the incident, but after the story broke she was dubbed "the sexiest superhero alive", and her collar "the luckiest thief". This guy just wanted a gorgeous woman to handcuff him, claimed one fan, and offers "to play the bad guy next" have been plentiful.



Mikaela's back in training after a summer break. Thieves beware!

Champion of the Day: Katrín Tanja Davíðsdóttir

Crossfit Games Fittest on Earth



The winner of the 2015 Crossfit Games is once again the Fittest on Earth in 2016. Katrin became only the second woman to win the Games two years in a row (her compatriot Annie Thorisdottir in 2011-12 was the first). In fact, the top four, Katrin, Australia's Tia-Clair Toomey, fellow Icelander Sara Sigmundsdottir, and Britain's Samantha Briggs (in that order), all took the same places they had in 2015.



It still seems kind of unreal, she told Men's Fitness soon after she'd completed her triumph. It still seems crazy that it's actually over. I was going to be happy with the weekend regardless of the outcome, but the win is such a big bonus. Indeed. Katrin pockets a winner's cheque for a cool $275,000 plus about $13,000 in performance bonuses! But of course it's not about the money. Her prize also, rather controversially, included a gun donated by one of the Games' sponsors. Really. She won a handgun, and apparently they are going to allow her back into Iceland with it.



Anyway, back to our champion. Enjoyed every second out there, she told her Instagram followers. And if the pictures are anything to go by, she really did.



You may remember that at the Games the individual events aren't announced until just before the competition starts. Each Games is therefore unique, and athletes have to prepare for pretty much anything from ocean swimming and rope climbs to handstand walks and whatever "The Separator" is. To win last year, and then to win again after a different set of twelve events is, I think you'll agree, quite an achievement.



So, what's her secret? I strive to be excellent, she says. I strive to excel at anything that I do. I take care of every single percent that I can take care of. I do that. I make sure I sleep enough. I make sure I eat perfect. I make sure I warm up well. I make sure that I lift well. I make sure that I give everything that I have to every workout. I want to constantly become solidly better than how I woke up.



She's not the worst advert they could have for the sport, is she?



Til hamingju Katrin!

The Games Are Coming: Célia Gabbiani

CELIA GABBIANI France



The last of our Crossfit correspondent's "talent" before the Games hails from the beautiful area around the city of Nice near the French-Italian border.



Célia, like yeaterday's talent, Jeanne Rossarie, is both French and failed to qualify for the Games (which kick off on Tuesday next week, the 19th). But I doubt there'll be too many complaints that our correspondent has included her in his selections.



A former swimmer, 5'4" Célia is 26, and discovered CrossFit in late 2012. In CrossFit my evolution has been much more rapid than in swimming, she explains, as that sport requires longer periods of discipline to achieve much slower growth. She has certainly packed on a lot of muscle since 2012. And it's getting her noticed.


Célia in 2013 (left), and this year

It took female muscle lovers a few years to find her, but she's very much on the collective radar now, fans of Célia noting how "rock solid" she looks, and admiring her penchant for concluding successful lifts with her "million-dollar smile".



Magnifique!



Célia is on Instagram.

And a massive thank you is due to Aiden for all his hard digging. I think it paid off rather well, don't you? Tune into the Games via the CrossFit megasite and YouTube channel. Keep your eyes peeled for some of the talent we've featured this week, as well as perennial favourites such as Camille LeBlanc-Bazinet, Stacie Tovar, Britain's Samantha Briggs, those Icelandic woman mountains, and many more more.

Enjoy!

The Games Are Coming: Jeanne Rossarie

JEANNE ROSSARIE France



Like a more ripped Camille Leblanc Bazinet, says our CrossFit correspondent, explaining the appeal of this 5'3" PE teacher from Montpellier. Those quads... he says, French speaking also... He didn't even write this much about all his other choices put together, which leads me to the conclusion that he quite likes Jeanne.



Hardly surprising, n'est-ce pas? Though we should say at this point that Jeanne came nowhere near qualifying for the Games. Nowhere near. Not even to the Regionals.
But given that she's only 25 and looks like "a more ripped Camille" (and in French), it's probably fair to say she is one to watch. And not just for the future.



She's already attracted some attention on the female muscle lovin' forum boards, unusually for a little-known CrossFitter, and especially so because she's from outside the US. Seems the brethren were alerted by her recent appearance at a French CrossFit event, and were particularly impressed by the shots of her in her Speedo-style panty things and her tiny, tiny orange top and the perkiness it fails to hide.



Both she, and the images are powerful stuff. "Adore her", one fan comments. "Perfection", says another. And images of her in her light blue Reebok outfit the same weekend have proved almost as moving to her growing number of admirers.





This pic is showing up everywhere, notes one of Jeanne's 10,000+ Instagram followers, referring to Jeanne on the run at the "French Throwdown" event below.



And here it, and she, is showing up again. Quelle surprise!

The Games Are Coming: Alethea Boon

ALETHEA BOON New Zealand



This Fiji-born New Zealander will be making her second appearance at the Games, having debuted last year in her first year competing as an individual athlete.



Regular Wonder Woman is Alethea. A former gymnast, she competed at two Commonwealth Games before retiring from the sport in 2004. After a move to Sydney, she found CrossFit and hasn't looked back since, but unlike many (probably the vast majority but I really don't know) of the other women (and men) at the Games, Alethea isn't a CrossFit professional. She has a day job. An office job. A 9 to 5 that she fits her training around. Oh, and she also represents New Zealand as a weightlifter, recently winning a medal at the Oceania Weightlifting Championships.



So... after qualifying for the Games she just slotted in an international weightlifting event before the Games themselves. And all the while working full-time. And there's a wedding to plan as well. Or not. It’s only until we get the CrossFit Games out of the way! she explains. I can only give so much of myself to each task and I need to prioritize, so unfortunately that one’s taken a backseat at the moment.



And this year, Alethea is going to be a slightly better-prepared athlete at the Games than she was first time around. I only just changed my diet in December 2015. I was happy and quite content living on chocolate and salt & vinegar crisps and Oreos every evening, she says. I thought if I could make it to the CrossFit Games eating like that then I’d be fine. I’m eating a lot cleaner now and I feel that much better. I’m more alert and I’m recovering much quicker, so I’m sticking with it!



Off-season you'll find her with a beer in one hand and a pool cue in the other, but she's 100% on it the rest of the time, taking Sunday strolls with "my friends Kettle & Bell" till her shoulders are ready to explode just to improve her performance on one event - Struggle with a certain movement? she asks. Don't shy away, do more of it!



You can't actually keep up with Alethea, so don't you even think about trying, but you can follow her adventures on Instagram. And there are also a few clips of her previous life as a gymnast at the Commonwealth Games on YouTube - vaulting, for example.



Haven't found any weightlifting footage... yet.