Premier league footballers, Wimbledon-winning tennis players and Olympic gold medallists – all have been drawn to the UAE winter for warm-weather training over the past couple of decades.
Even with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic pausing travel for most people – most recently, from the UK – professional sportspeople are still coming to the Emirates in droves, whether for training, relaxation or marketing purposes, such as when UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov played against Turkish chef and Instagram mega-influencer Burak Özdemir earlier this week.
“The coronavirus has affected travel across all sectors, and of course sport is not immune to that, but with a warm climate and excellent facilities in addition to strong safety measures, Dubai remains an attractive destination for sports teams,” James Thomas, performance director at British Gymnastics, told Arabian Business.
However, thanks to the coronavirus, it hasn’t been smooth sailing for every sports team in Dubai.
Earlier this week, 13 Celtic players were forced to self-isolate after a positive test for one of their team-mates upon returning to Scotland. Several members of the team had infuriated the Scottish public, who have been in a tier-four lockdown, and even the government after being pictured flouting social distancing guidelines. Similarly, players of the Arsenal and Manchester City women’s teams were reprimanded following an unauthorised trip to the emirate.
Cristian Brezeanu, a former international gymnast for Romania and South Africa who is head of gymnastics at Fly High Fitness, where Team GB will be training, said: “Sports tourism is not a new thing for the UAE. From the Dubai Rugby Sevens to the F1 in Abu Dhabi, the UAE hosts some incredible sports events through the year and has done now for many years.
“Not only does that boost tourism from both spectators (when they’re allowed again) to the participants, and of course the secondary economic impact of that, but it acts as a way to inspire the youth here and aspiring athletes.”
Tokyo preparations
Championship-winning British Olympians including Joe Fraser, James Hall and Giarnni Regini-Moran will touch down in Dubai today for a training camp, as they prepare for this summer’s Tokyo Games.
James Thomas, performance director at British Gymnastics: “The team is in a fortunate position that the UK Government has provided exemptions to elite sports [people] who are preparing for the Tokyo Olympic Games”
“It is clear that there is high level of compliance with safety regulations, and the continued efforts to ensure the population is safe gives teams reassurance,” added Thomas. “The British Gymnastics team is in a fortunate position that the UK Government has provided exemptions to elite sports who are preparing for the Tokyo Olympic Games and we believe that training in Dubai will give our athletes an added boost to their preparations.”
Safety first
With a series of stringent safety measures in place – including pre-flight PCR tests for the athletes and a rigorous sanitisation regime mandated by the Dubai Sports Council – Thomas believes the safety of both athletes and staff are paramount, which lends a sense of reassurance.
“The fact that the UAE [has] one of the most successful vaccination programmes in the world, the high level of compliance with safety regulations through the whole of the pandemic and the continued efforts to ensure the population is safe, gives teams huge reassurance that if anywhere in the world is safe to travel, it’s Dubai.”
Raising the gymnastics bar
For Brezeanu, the experience of live sports and the thrill of watching top athletes is pivotal in attracting children and teenagers towards a career in sport, whether as athletes or through one of its many ancillary careers, such as marketing and event management.
“Of course, seeing top-level international teams coming here sends a clear signal to others around the world that Dubai is indeed a destination for sport. For gymnastics, we haven’t been able to offer that until the opening of Fly High, so we hope now, this can be a sport added to the many that Dubai and the UAE can offer the world.”
However, there are challenges – the biggest being that gymnastics is still a relatively new sport in the Middle East. “We have work to do in terms of raising its profile. There are no government facilities or sponsorships of the sport, so we still need that support to really help it reach a wider audience.”
As with so many other sectors, the coronavirus has impacted revenues. “Many of the private facilities have struggled, as most of the revenue depends on children. With the risks of home schooling on many parents’ minds, many of those whose children were coming pre-Covid have opted to keep them away from group activities until things settle down, making it very hard to imagine that the few clubs we do have, can all survive beyond the pandemic.”
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