Nasser Al-Attiyah aims at Olympics, WRC and 2013 Dakar

Qatari driver and former Dakar Rally winner Nasser Al-Attiyah is serious about his sports, whether he’s behind the wheel of WRC or the Dakar rally car or he’s shooting at the Olympic Games. And he wants to excel in all of them.

Al-Attiyah won the Dakar Rally last year and showed up on start again last month, determined to defend the title. However, things didn’t go according to plan so he decided to pull out and rush back home to take part in Asian shooting championship in order to qualify for Olympic Games. When that was done he was already preparing for Rally Sweden. And it’s only February!

“The situation was really not good in Dakar. It was a big mess. So I decided to stop on day nine. If I was not in Qatar on January 13 then I would have missed the Asian Shooting Championships. Sometimes you have to lose something to win another thing. It was my only way to compete in the Olympics. I was so lucky to have the last moment”, Al-Attiyah said in an interview with Reuters.

Not only did he qualify for the Olympics but he equalled the world record in clay pigeon shooting by hitting 150 out of 150!

“I love these two sports. Before I came to shooting I was in rallying and I said I have to have another sport to make my schedule relaxing.”

Regarding Dakar, Al-Attiyah plans to return next year and fight for another win, but before that he’ll take part in numerous WRC events, Olympics, training events…

Full interview available in Malaysian The Star.