PARIS. Who knows all the siblings and wives of the Emir of Qatar? If the statistics are still up to date, the youthful-looking Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, 44, has three wives and fifteen children - which is probably an Olympic record in the IOC. Last Friday, many reports on the Olympic opening ceremony erroneously stated that the lady in the enchanting orange dress at his side was one of his three wives. Not true, it was one of his sisters, Hind bint Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani. And a second sister, Al-Mayassa Bint Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, was sitting in a white abaya just a short distance away in the stands at the Trocadéro.
Of course, you don't need to know all the siblings, wives and children of one of the most powerful people in the world, but you do need to know these two sisters. Because they hold key positions in the Al-Thani family business:
- Among other positions, Sheikha Hind serves as CEO of the Qatar Foundation, the centrepiece of the Al-Thani conglomerate.
- Sheikha Al-Mayassa is the head of Qatar Museums and has been the most important art buyer on the planet for several years, with an annual budget of one billion dollars.
Hind and Al-Mayassa are just as important for Qatar's ongoing expansion policy - some call it soft power, just stop using this stupid term of sportswashing - as Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al Saud is on the side of the big and at times unloved Arab brother Saudi Arabia. Reema is the kingdom's ambassador in Washington and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), where she is a colleague of Emir Tamim.
Tamim was co-opted to the IOC in 2002, when he was not even the heir to the throne, at the tender age of 21. If my understanding of the IOC is not mistaken, Tamim was the youngest IOC member of all time.
Princess Reema made some big appearances at the 142nd IOC Session last week. Firstly in a promotional event for Saudi Arabia lasting several hours, a glaring example of the politicisation of sport that Bach supposedly hates so much, which was crowned with the awarding of the Olympic Esport Games.
Jens Weinreich
The following day, Reema gave a taste of her diplomatic skills when she elegantly tried to mediate between the Americans and the Olympians, who were furious about the Rodchenkov Act. Although she was undoubtedly presidential, no woman in the IOC can hold a candle to her. Especially not the one who has been trying for months to explain to IOC members that she is not a puppet of the IOC President: Kirsty Coventry. Her performance at the session in the Palais des Congrés was a shame, and it wasn't because she didn't understand Bach's jokes and giggled at the microphone as if she was out of her mind.
Jens Weinreich
Like almost all super VIPs - heads of state, prime ministers, princes, billionaires and kings - Emir Tamim was completely drenched at the opening ceremony. Only Napoleon Bach, Napoleon Macron and a few others from the IOC leadership had a roof over their heads. Tamim, a man from the IOC rank and file, as funny as that sounds, and his sister Hind rarely stopped laughing. They made bella figura for hours in the pouring rain. While other good old Olympic acquaintances, such as Spain's King Felipe and his wife Letizia, captured some sour moments in still images.
Tamim didn't show the slightest bit of offence. He was on a mission with one of his most important allies: Emmanuel Macron.
Tamim has now been left out in the rain twice by Bach:
- Not only at the opening ceremony in Paris,
- but above all in February 2021, when Bach awarded the 2032 Summer Olympics to his old mate John Coates and Brisbane in one of the most dubious Olympic decisions of all time.
