Doha Qatar

This is my second trip to the Middle East, and let me just tell you, it felt just as spectacular as the first.

The stark difference of scenery, culture, weather, and lifestyle between the middle east and home is so fascinating, and it makes for such a memorable trip.

I travelled with Team Canada to Doha, Qatar for the 2024 World Swimming Championships. Now, I know what everyone is thinking… Swimming? In a desert? Oh yes, Doha is one of the most successful hosts for huge sporting events, even if they have to ship the water in from other countries! Because of the super flat, open, and undisturbed landscape that seems to go on forever, it makes for the perfect place to build enormous state-of-the-art venues and resources that can handle over a million athletes and fans, which puts tourism as the country’s second largest industry behind oil and natural gas.

In 2022, Doha hosted the FIFA World Cup, building a huge soccer stadium and an entire underground subway system so that players could travel without worrying about traffic or getting stopped by the public. The Khalifa International Stadium alone, which held the final of the World Cup, holds a strong 50,000 people, while the city saw over 3.4 million spectators over the course of the entire event. This stadium was actually located across the street from the aquatic venue that hosted the World Championships - how cool to have so many world class venues right at the same bus stop!

Team Canada had a great World Championships. I competed in the 400 Individual Medley, and I made my first individual final at a long course World Championships. I finished 7^th, and I had so much fun during the whole process. There were 4 pools in that one venue - the most I’ve ever seen around the world! The Aspire Dome is actually the largest sports venue in the entire world, with the ability to host 13 different sporting events at the same time. Doha is a city that is fortunate to have the landscape, funding, and materials to build such expansive venues, which would be nearly impossible to fit in an existing city. The downtown was tightly packed, similar to North American cities, so the bus ride took about 30 minutes each way to reach the pool.

My individual race was on day 8 of competition, so I had some free time to explore the city before I needed to swim. I, along with another Canadian swimmer, were invited to visit a local swim club and share stories, advice, and even get in the water and work with the local kids on some skills. The kids at the American School of Doha were so excited to ask questions and learn, so it was by far one of the most exciting days during my trip. One girl from the school came and watched my swim in the final! I remember being that age and seeing my idols swim, so it is a really cool feeling to know that I made another younger swimmer excited about the future.

During the same week as the swimming competition, there was a Women’s World Cup Tennis match only a few blocks away from our hotel. A few of us were able to watch several matches, and we even got to see Naomi Osaka play! What are the odds this was all happening the week we were there.

Another show stopping feature about Doha, one of the safest cities in the world, is the Souq Waqif Market. It was first built around 100 years ago and has expanded and boomed into a huge tourist attraction and local trading ground. They have vendors ranging from fabrics, perfumes, animal feed, gold, art galleries, theatres, and even horse stables and a falcon store. Yes, you can buy a falcon. It is bustling from sunrise to sunset, and it was a really cool area to grasp the authentic culture of Qatar and learn what is important to them. My suitcase was heavy on the way home from all of the souvenirs I brought back with me, but overall, it was such a special place to visit. I am extremely fortunate to be able to visit such remote places and see all parts of the world like Doha.