How a princess gave Moroccan show jumper his first leg up

A 54-YEAR-OLD who was terrified of horses as a boy will compete in the showjumping event for Morocco in the Rio Olympics, reaching the pinnacle of an unlikely career that started with a helping hand from a princess.

Abdelkebir Ouaddar was playing football in the streets of Marrakesh one day aged eight, when he was spotted by Princess Lalla Fatima Zohra, the sister of the then King Hassan II.

In keeping with a Moroccan tradition in which the royal family can adopt ordinary children from the kingdom, she went to see his parents to say she would like to take him into her family and raise him as one of her own.

His mother was devastated, but his father saw that it would be good for the boy’s future and agreed to let him go, Mr Ouaddar said in a recent interview with Radio France International (RFI).

He said that as a boy he was fascinated by horses, but was also terrified of them. Another sister of the king, the head of Morocco’s royal equestrian sports society, helped him develop a passion for showjumping.

“She came to get me regularly over the space of a month to teach me not to be afraid of horses,” he said. “It was thanks to her that I first put my foot in a stirrup.”

He trained further in France and became an instructor before qualifying to jump for his country at Rio 2016, the first time that Morocco has been represented in this sport at an Olympics.