Obaid Al Jasmi: The Phelps effect

UAE swimmer Obaid Al Jasmi is back from his second Olympics, without any medals, but with plenty of lessons learned, the highlight being a brief but memorable chat with American legend Michael Phelps. And judging by his performances at the 19th GCC Swimming championships which finished at the Al Jazira Club in Abu Dhabi yesterday, the 27-year-old, who finished last in his heat in Beijing, appears to have already implemented that knowledge to good effect.

Al Jasmi enjoyed a successful meet breaking six national records on the way to taking home as many medals. But if the UAE are to narrow the gap between them and the world’s best that was so evident in Beijing, Al Jasmi believes a change in approach is necessary.

Speaking to XPRESS on the sidelines of the GCC meet, he said: "If you want Olympic champions, you have to focus on kids who are currently seven, eight or nine years old. You have to prepare them for the 2016 or 2020 Olympics. If we work towards that, winning a medal may be hard but we can have someone in the top 16 at least."

Setting a new national record in the 100 metre freestyle heats in Beijing was certainly a positive for the young police officer from Abu Dhabi. But something better arrived when his American coach Jay Benner introduced him to the man who rewrote the record books with his eight gold medals in a single Olympics. "[Phelps] is a friendly person. He encouraged me and said if I want to become a world class swimmer, I should follow my coach’s advice and keep training hard. It was just a few minutes but I can say I’m lucky. He is a legend and it’s hard to find one of his kind today."

Al Jasmi revealed he did not miss the opportunity to remind Phelps about the 10th Fina World Swimming Championships which will be held in Dubai in 2010. "I spoke to him about it and he said he’s looking forward to it. So I’m sure he will be there."

Al Jasmi now has his heart set on helping his younger team-mates. "I want them to be better than me," he said. "I would give them the same advice Phelps gave me. But they have got to love swimming from their heart, not because of Obaid Al Jasmi but because they want to be champions."