Once again it was a grey Qatar day. If you haven't been here before, you might get the wrong impression about Qatar - even confuse it with an English autumn. In fact I've been told that this is the worst weather Qatar has ever had (although that is a European viewpoint - Qataris normally greet rain with delight,) and I'm sure we've had the average yearly fall of seven centimetres in the last two weeks.
Along with many other Qatari residents, we braved the rain and went
along to Sport City today. To do so we had to first park the car - the one draw back of the day. This muddy mess of a car-park was obviously one designed with land cruisers in mind - if there had ever been such a thing as a design. At least we had a car - there didn't appear to be any buses, and there is a chronic lack of taxis in the cities. Most of my car-less friends rely on illegal private drivers to get around.It was my first time within the huge complex, and parking aside, I was amazed and impressed. Every building, including the mosque, seemed like an image from the future. In Aspire, a low curving building which will probably still look modern in twenty years time, we had the choice of watching wrestling, gymnastics, cycling, wishu, boxing and other events. Tickets and refreshments were, as normal, ridiculously cheap.
After watching several events at Aspire, we strolled across to Khalifa stadium, where we watched the running, high jumping, shot put and discus throwing. Khalifa stadium is truly impressive, with arches and struts carving high above the spectators. It was cold, though, and it was hard to imagine that this was the country which had punished us with almost 50 degree temperatures.After watching the athletics, I wandered over to the Cultural Section. Here you can see the visual arts, a display of armour by Qatar Museum (some of it very rare indeed - included elephant armour - one of only two sets in the world), a philatelic exhibition and an incredible photographic exhibition.
As we scraped the bottom of our car on the ridiculously muddy and bumpy car park, I realised we had been to one of the top sporting facilities in the world. Maybe Qatar's ambition to hold the world Olympic Games are not so far-fetched after all. All they need to do now is sort out the transport - and some decent parking.
Also see: Qatar Asian Games
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Qatar Doha Middle East Asian Games Sport City