OC PROFILE
Husein Alireza (G12)
“Mental focus is vital. And the way to stay focused is to remember why you’re doing it: making history to be the first Olympian rower from Saudi Arabia” F SAUDI’S ROWING HERO
Husein Alireza is on the brink of becoming Saudi Arabia’s first Olympic rower. He explains his extraordinary journey to date, and the role that Charterhouse has played. I had a great time at Charterhouse – I was always involved in sports: water polo, squash, football, fives and tennis. You’re kept busy all the time, either studying or doing sports. Five years of that sets you up for life. It was a bit of a culture shock though. People are very self-motivated at Charterhouse and a lot of pupils already knew what they wanted to be. I can’t say that I did, but I knew I wanted to do something outstanding. I tried rowing first when I was at Charterhouse. It was winter – so wet and windy. One of our friends, Sebastian English (G12), fell out of our eight! That was very funny. It was a tough experience though – blades everywhere. When I left and went to Edinburgh, I had so much free time that I didn’t know what to do with it and did little exercise. But then I went to Cambridge for my Master’s and that was much more like Charterhouse, so I felt more at home. That’s where I started rowing.
24 E The Greyhound
On my first day at Hughes Hall I bumped into an Old Carthusian – Louis Speelmans (F12). We weren’t friends at School but bonded immediately and became best friends. Rowing was something we both wanted to try so we joined the Hughes Hall Boat Club. Initially, it was a social thing but my numbers began to improve quite quickly – so much so that the coach told me I should take the rowing further. I didn’t take him seriously until someone from the Cambridge Blue Boat approached me. He explained that the reason why he had started rowing was to find his ceiling, to see how far he could go. So I looked into it and realised the opportunity I had to represent my country internationally. At that point Saudi Arabia had never been represented for rowing. So there was an opportunity to be the first Saudi rower! Then I stumbled across an article about an Indian man who started training in 2012 and qualified for the Rio Olympics in 2016. If he could do it, maybe I could too – even though I only had three years? So I sent an email to the best rowing clubs in London and one interviewed me. At the interview I met my coach Bill Barry (silver medallist in the coxless fours at the 1964 Olympics – in Tokyo, funnily enough).
