UAE's pride of future could be 'Desert Olympics'

When the Clouds Architecture Office thought of Analemma Tower, a futuristic, asteroid-suspended skyscraper that orbits around the world, they thought of the UAE as the ideal location for this out-of-the-globe idea. After all, it's in the UAE where Dubai alone boasts of almost 20 per cent of the world's tallest buildings. But above all it's the innovative vision of the UAE's leadership that has over the decades turned the country into a centre of gravity for creative ideas from all over the world.
It was thus that when I thought of the idea of 'Desert Olympics'. I thought of the UAE as the ideal country to realise and lead the idea in working with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Desert Olympics would host environment and terrain specific sports events like Winter Olympics. The Winter Olympics depend on winter weather and ice and snow, hence they are held only in countries, that meet these requirements.
Can we hold Olympics in deserts? Whenever we think of the deserts and unbearable climatic conditions, the high degree of temperature comes to mind. Such a harsh perception of deserts is among the clichés many of us hold. Deserts have their own versions of mild and extreme temperature conditions. While the average maximum temperatures in the UAE reach above 45 °C in July and August they fall to an average minimum of between 10 to 14 °C in January and February. In 2004, the UAE even received snow for the very first time in some of the high altitude areas.
The Mojave Desert, the driest desert in North America, which also contains the Death Valley, has an average high temperature of 46.9 °C in July while average low temperatures go as low as 3.5 °C in December. The Great Sandy Desert, the second largest desert in Australia, which is the driest inhabited continent in the world, has an average high temperature of 40.6 °C in January and an average low of 10.6 °C in July. The Taklamakan Desert in China has temperatures sometimes as low as below -20 °C in winter, which can go up as high as 40 °C in summer. These examples show the variation of temperatures in deserts in a year. This means that in between the extremes of desert temperatures there's a point when the conditions are just right for an event like Desert Olympics.
Though there are cold and semi arid deserts too in this world we are talking about hot and dry and coastal deserts for Desert Olympics. The Desert Olympics would have their own special desert-specific set of sport events like Winter Olympics that holds events such as Alpine Skiing, Cross-country skiing, Freestyle skiing, Ski jumping, Biathlon (cross-country skiing and rifle shooting), Nordic combined (combo of cross-country skiing and ski jumping), Figure skating, Speed skating, Short track speed skating, Snowboarding, Bobsleigh, Luge, Skeleton, Curling and Ice hockey.
So Desert Olympics would have to have their own special set of sport events such as Sand-boarding, Sand Skiing, Camel Race and Equestrian. Some of the Summer Olympic sport events could be adopted in Desert Olympics and thus we could have 100-metre Sand Sprint and 200-, 400-, 800-metre Sand Race events and Sand Long Jump events. Some specially contrived sport events could also be made part of Desert Olympics like Sand and Sand Dune Biking and Sand and Sand Dune Sled Pulling. Country or region specific demonstration events could also be made part of the event like in case of the UAE it could be Dhow Racing. Furthermore, the UAE and IOC could also invite sport event suggestions from sport lovers around the world.
Desert Olympics would generate economic activities in the host country, create jobs, promote sport particularly desert sports around the world, attract more people specially children and youth to healthy sports activities. The events would provide the host country an opportunity to internationally showcase its economic progress, management skills, modern infrastructure and its people's sporting spirit and hospitality, all which would lead to enhancement of positive image for the host country which would attract international business investment and tourism.
In a world haunted by growing spectres of conflicts and friction, human tragedies and enmities, gloom and despair we need more occasions for people to relish, more reasons to smile while not forgetting those of us who are in difficult of times. Desert Olympics could be held with a human theme every time. For example, the first ever Desert Olympics could be held with the theme of caring for the refugees of the world and a part of the revenues could be donated to United Nations' agencies working for the welfare of refugees around the world.
The UAE could propose the idea of Desert Olympics to IOC and work with the organisation and relevant IOC member countries to implement the idea. The country has the economy, infrastructure, hospitality facilities, rich and diverse human capital, natural environment, innovative spirit and a visionary leadership to realise the idea of Desert Olympics. The UAE would make history by being the first country to hold the first ever event of this kind.
Syed Moazzam Hai is a Socio-Economic Change Strategist and a freelance journalist.