Be strong, be brave and never give up: Meet young Emirati gymnast Lamia Al Farsi

Gulf News

Lamia Al Farsi is just 11 years old but the conviction and the dedication she has belies her age. The young Emirati rhythmic gymnast has a simple mantra to achieve her goals. Her goal is to win the gold medal in the Youth Olympics in four years’ time and, to reach her target, she has one simple formula: Never give up.  Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/sport/uae-sport/be-strong-be-brave-and-never-give-up-is-young-lamia-al-farsis-mantra-1.91119239  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #gymnast #Emirati

Transcript

00:00I want to achieve to be the first Emirati gymnast in the UAE to win the gold medal

00:14in the Olympics, the youth Olympics.

00:17Before, I used to do ballet when I was like four years old and the ballet teacher was

00:23like she's not good for ballet but I think she'll be good for gymnastics so then I came

00:28to this club.

00:38It was the first time after quarantine and I was quite nervous at first but all of my

00:43coaches, my friends, my family, they all came and supported me and I tried to do my best.

00:50There was ups and downs but at least I got on the podium and I did my best.

00:55They didn't tell us until the awards ceremony and I didn't know because I thought we were

01:00only competing with our girls, my 2011 category, but there is going to be a time where we have

01:08to compete against older girls, not even 2010 but 2009 and 2008.

01:13It was my first time competing against older girls.

01:16I did get third place and first place and second place.

01:35Before quarantine, we went to Moscow and I used to train there for eight hours, seven

01:39hours, and I was only like six years old or something but now because we can't travel

01:44anywhere because we're too scared to go, it was our first time traveling to an international

01:50competition.

01:51Otherwise, we would be either in Dubai or we would be competing in online competitions.

02:00Some girls my age, some girls younger than me, they would always want to be on the mobile

02:04and stuff so you need fresh air, you need to be exercised at least like twice a week

02:11you have to come here and train but I train here every day, six days a week and it made

02:19me feel strong and I would tell younger kids, older kids, just be strong and be brave.

02:27Something hurts, don't give up because many girls, as my coach said, many girls they came

02:32and they gave up after like one failure but that's not how rhythmic gymnastics works.

02:37This is not how a sport works.

02:38I didn't win for the first time, I've always been winning first, first places and I remember

02:45Germany that I met my world, my idol, her name was Margarita Mamun, she won in the Olympics

02:54first place from Russia and I met her there and she told me something that I would never

03:00forget, don't give up.

03:02I would tell myself, I wouldn't blame another person, I would tell myself I need to train

03:08harder.

03:09In streaks competition I got second, second, third and in Turkey I got first, second, third.

03:15For me I feel like I improved a lot and I'm proud of myself.

03:21For the first time in Germany I wasn't happy with myself, I was crying on the podium even

03:27though I got second place, there was a podium and I was crying and everyone was like happy

03:32and stuff.

03:33I was crying and I didn't like it at all, I didn't like that feeling of being a failure

03:38even though it wasn't a fail and I'm just used to it because now I feel, I see that

03:45there's more better girls than me and I want to be like them.

03:48We have one day off which is a Sunday and I spend that time for studying.

03:54On Saturdays I go horse riding, after training, so we finish training at 3 o'clock and I go

04:03for training in horse riding from 4.30 to 5.30 or 5 o'clock, half an hour or so.

04:10I really like horses.

04:11Do you want to become a jockey then?

04:12No, my main goal is to become a rhythmic gymnast who won first place.

04:24I want to become a gymnast who won first place.

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