Sheikha Latifa: Two Decades of Asian Games Glory and a New Olympic Aspiration

For Sheikha Latifa bint Ahmed bin Juma Al Maktoum, riding a horse is as natural as breathing or walking – an innate skill acquired in childhood and pursued with lifelong dedication. Earlier this month, she added another significant achievement to her illustrious career, securing a silver medal for the UAE in team jumping at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, aboard her bay coat stallion, Cornet XL. This marked her fourth career medal at the Games, a remarkable feat achieved exactly 20 years after her first at Doha 2006.

When asked if she envisioned such longevity when claiming her initial Asian Games medal, the 41-year-old Emirati, speaking from her base in Germany, stated, “I think so. I think it's in our DNA. I think for us riders, I don't ever think we'd want to stop. We'd always have something to do with it.” This enduring passion, discipline, and skill are not taken for granted. “It means a lot,” she shared. “The first Asian Games, I did it with an eight-year-old [horse]. An eight-year-old is very young to do a championship like that. I got him as a seven-year-old, the same as Cornet XL, I got him as a seven-year-old, and we built up together. So I think now three horses that I've done the Asian Games with, I've had from young horses and built up. I don't know how to explain it, but it's just a different feeling when you bring up a horse instead of getting something ready to do it because it takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of effort and you go through a lot of ups and downs building up horses. So that for me is something special.”

The recent weeks have been particularly memorable for Sheikha Latifa, not only for her first Asian Games podium since Guangzhou 2010 (where she won individual and team silver medals with Kalaska de Semilly) but also for her long-awaited return to the World Equestrian Games (WEG) in August. This marked her first appearance at the global event since 2010. A call-up came just two weeks prior, following an injury to compatriot Abdullah Al Marri, which opened a spot on the UAE team. “I was actually preparing for that [a call-up] my whole summer tour because I was on the long list so I was preparing for it,” she explained. “I chose my shows, built up the horse. So when I got the call, I was ready. I think the team wasn't sure just because my horse didn't do as many big classes as they would like, but I have a lot of confidence in him and I really believed that he was made for this from the day I bought him.”

This recent success has bolstered Sheikha Latifa's confidence in pursuing her next major goal with Cornet XL: qualifying for the Olympics. She is no stranger to the Olympic stage, having been the first Emirati woman, alongside Sheikha Maitha bint Mohammed bin Rashid, to compete in showjumping at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Reflecting on her first Olympic experience, she said, “Everything was new and I was very nervous. I had a 10-year-old horse that I brought up, 10-year-olds are considered young at that level. Me being very young at the time it was very new and I think now I know what it takes to be there. I know what the horse needs. I have a plan and if I don't believe I could represent the country in the best possible light, I wouldn't even attempt it. But I think I really have a fantastic horse and we're a great combination me and him. We're going to try, Inshallah.”

Sheikha Latifa emphasizes that “trusting the process” is the most crucial lesson for her upcoming Olympic journey. She described the challenges with Cornet XL: “He's such a big horse and I'm very little and he's very strong but very sensitive and I really had to find a way that he was happy but I could also still control him because he doesn't like to have me control him completely and he likes to be how he wants to be. But at the level we're jumping, I have to also have a say in what I want in the ring. I have to be able to make a decision and when I make a decision he has to respond, and in the beginning that was very difficult just because he's so big but also so sensitive so I really had to find a way with him and that we both came to an understanding.”

She credits Saudi rider Ramzy Al Duhami, an experienced competitor and London 2012 Olympic team bronze medalist, as her long-time coach and mentor. “He really inspires me in the way he thinks. What I really like is he's always horse first, so like we never think, oh we want the horse to go this way? No, it’s how do we do best to get the best out of the horse? If I need to change the way I'm riding, if I need to sit more, if I need to be out of the saddle, if I need to have the nose out, if I need to have the nose in, it's all how to get the best out of the horse. And for me that's why it never gets boring because every horse is different and every horse likes to go a certain way and that's how I get inspired because it's just never boring.”

As one of five Emirati women to win medals at the recent Asian Games, Sheikha Latifa has witnessed the significant growth of women's sport in the UAE over the past two decades. She embraces her role as a pioneer, stating, “It means a lot and I really am also inspired by the other athletes, whether it's male or female, I'm really inspired by them. It's just you always feel when someone is able to raise your flag in a big occasion you feel like you're part of it, so it doesn't matter what sport but anything that raises the UAE flag I always feel like I'm a part of it and I think it goes the same way for all of us, whether it's in athletics, whether it's in judo. I think for us it's just we're all proud of each other.”