The Establishment of the Qatar National Olympic Committee: Building the National Sport Identity
2014; Routledge; Volume: 31; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/09523367.2013.878136
ISSN1743-9035
Autores Tópico(s)Sports, Gender, and Society
ResumoAbstractThis paper examines the process of the establishment of the Qatar National Olympic Committee (QOC) in the late 1970s as part of a nation-building process. Qatar was one of the British protectorates in the Gulf region having its international relations controlled by Britain. On September 3, 1971, the country's Heir Apparent appeared on local TV and announced Qatar's independence. In the following years, the new Amir started a campaign of nation-building. Sport played an important part in this campaign, facilitating the formation of a national identity. Meanwhile, sports federations in Qatar began to apply for membership of their respective International Federations (IFs). In order to send athletes to the Olympics, the QOC was established in 1979 and it was recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1980. The primary written sources used in this paper are official documents from the IOC, the IFs and the Official Gazette of the State of Qatar. The establishment of the QOC can be seen as part of the process of nation-building experienced by Qatar after its independence. International sports events were used to win international recognition, and investments in infrastructure, sports facilities and elite sport were seen by the Qatar government as an important approach to boost the country's international representation. However, in order to join the Olympic movement and raise Qatar's national flag at international sporting events, the QOC had to revise its Constitution to meet all the requirements of the IOC.Keywords:: QatarsportOlympicsnation-buildingidentity AcknowledgementsWriting this paper would not have been possible without the support of my colleagues at the Qatar Olympic & Sports Museum (QOSM). Also I would like to express my gratitude for the Olympic Studies Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland, for providing access to its archives for the collection of the primary sources. On a more personal note, I would like to thank Ali Salat, the QOSM's Research Assistant, for facilitating the Arabic readings and for the always-fruitful discussions related to the sport history of his country.Notes 1.CitationFritz and Menocal, Understanding State-Building, 15. 2.CitationGreen, CulturalHistory. 3.CitationBourdieu et al., Bourdieu. 4.CitationBourdieu et al., An Introduction to theWork of Pierre Bourdieu. 5.CitationSmith, Ethno-Symbolism andNationalism. 6.CitationHalbwachs, TheCollectiveMemory. 7.CitationAnderson, ImaginedCommunities. 8.CitationHobsbawm and Ranger, The Invention ofTradition. 9.CitationNora and Kritzman, Realms ofMemory.10.CitationBosworth, "The Nomenclature of the Persian Gulf."11.CitationUnited States, The CIAWorldFactbook 2013.12. Ibid.13.CitationSmith, Britain'sRevival andFall in the Gulf, 104.14. Heir Apparent is usually the family member selected to be successor to the Amir. He is also called the Crown Prince.15. Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad was the ruler of Qatar from 1972 to 1995. He was too young to rule when his father Sheikh Hamad bin Abdallah Al-Thani died in 1948. Thus, his uncle, Sheikh Ali bin Abdallah, took over the Amir position. Sheikh Ali put in the succession line his son Sheikh Ahmad bin Ali to be the ruler. Under Sheikh Ahmad ruling time, he includes Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad as Heir Apparent. The internal dispute between the sons of Ali (bin Ali) and sons of Hamad (bin Hamad) is evident in the period.16.CitationFromherz, Qatar: A Modern History, 9.17. Ibid., 75.18. Ibid., 80.19. Also known as Cassius Clay, the American Muhammad Ali is considered one of the greatest boxers in the sport history. He converted to Islam in mid-1960s.20. Al Rayyan Television, Muhammad Ali visits the State of Qatar [original from Qatar Television, 1971], online video clip, Al Rayyan Television YouTube channel. Accessed September 15, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67CA1AGfCFs21. The Brazilian Edson Arantes do Nascimento (known as Pelé) is considered one of the greatest football players in the sport history. He played for the Brazilian club Santos FC until 1974.22. After the merging system of clubs that happened in Qatar in 1972, Al Ahli FC was created. Getting players from the Old Al Ahli and the first club in Doha, Al Najah was created in 1950; Al Ahli FC adopted 1950 as its establishment date; CitationAl Jassim, Zaman, 34.23. Al Rayyan Television, Muhammad Ali visits the State of Qatar [original from Qatar Television, 1971], online video clip, Al Rayyan Television YouTube channel. Accessed September 15, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67CA1AGfCFs24. Seven teams participated in this tournament: Kuwait (winner), Iraq (runner-up), Qatar (third place), Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Oman.25. Son of Sheikh Khalifa will eventually take the power of the country in 1995 and rule the country until 2013.26. The Amiri Decree can be seen as an endorsement of the leader, inheriting the appointed as 'the selected' to have the power. 'The selected' reproduces the embodied dispositions which were recognised and valued by the Qatari society (Grenfell, Pierre Bourdieu, Citation95).27.CitationState of Qatar, "Amiri Decree, Under the Law 2."28.CitationThe Youth Welfare Supreme Council, TheYouth andSportDevelopment in Qatar, 24 (author's emphasis).29.CitationState of Qatar, "Decree n.5, Article 41 of 1981."30.CitationAl-Thani, "Letter to International Olympic Committee's President, 30 September 1979," 1 (author's emphasis).31. Ibid., 2.32.CitationBerlioux, "Letter to Mr. Abdallah bin Khalifa Al-Thani, 26 November 1979" 1–2.33. Original in Arabic: اللجنةالاولمبيةالقطرية34.CitationBerlioux, "Letter to Mr. Abdallah bin Khalifa Al-Thani, 26 November 1979" 1 (author's emphasis).35.CitationInternational Olympic Committee (IOC), Olympic Charter, 13 (author's emphasis).36.CitationKubler-Mabbott and Chappelet, The International Olympic Committee and the Olympic System, 54–6.37.CitationAl-Thani, "Letter to International Olympic Committee's Director, 10 March 1980," 1.38.CitationAl-Nuaimi, "Letter to International Olympic Committee's Director, 20 March 1980."39.CitationState of Qatar, "Decree n.5, Article 41 of 1981."40. Original in Arabic: تضماللجنهالاولمبيةالقطريةاتحاداتاللعباتالرياضيةالقائمهحالياىالتيتتكونمستقبلا41. The provisional membership was approved during the IOC Executive Board meeting in Lausanne on April 21–23, 1980.42.CitationAl-Thani and Al-Nuaimi, "Letter to International Olympic Committee's Director, 11 May 1980."43.CitationAl-Thani and Al-Nuaimi, "Minutes of Extraordinary Session, 09 May 1980."44.CitationAl-Thani, "Telex to the International Volleyball Federation, 10 May 1980."45.CitationHafez, "Message for the Secretary General."46. IOC, "Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Board, 11 June 1980," 21.47.CitationBerlioux, "Letter to Qatar Olympic Committee's President, 11 June 1980."48. IOC, "Minutes of the Meeting of The IOC Executive Board, 1981," 52.49.CitationTomlinson, NationalIdentity andGlobalSportsEvents, 2.50.CitationHoulihan, "International Politics and Olympic Governance."51.CitationState of Qatar, "Decree n.5, Article 41 of 1981."Additional informationNotes on contributorsLuis Henrique Rolim SilvaLuis Henrique Rolim Silva is currently the Head of Research at the Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum. He holds an MSc on Human Movement Sciences from the Federal University of the Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, and currently he is a Ph.D. candidate at the German Sports University, Cologne.
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