DOHA: The Qatar Association of Athletics Federation (QAAF) yesterday honoured Saif Saaeed Shaheen, the double world Steeplechase champion and record holder from Qatar, for his stupendous achievements during the year 2005.
Shaheen, who earlier defended his world 3,000 metres steeplechase title at the World Championship in Helsinki, has remained unbeaten in this event for more than 23 races now.

Brigadier Dahlan Al Hamad, president, QAAF, said Shaheen did Qatar proud by his spectacular performances at different stadiums in the world.

 “Shaheen had brought glory to Qatar by his successful performances in the several international competitions. We are proud of you, Shaheen,” he said while presenting a special medal to him.
Dahlan also conveyed to Shaheen the special congratulations from IAAF president Lamine Diack who wished the Qatari runner a lot of success in the future.

Shaheen narrowly failed to beat his world record when he raced away to a comprehensive victory in the 3 000m steeplechase at the Brussels Golden League meeting earlier this month. Qatari national Shaheen, spurred on by a band of drummers, had the capacity crowd on its feet as he clocked seven minutes 55.51 seconds for the fastest time in the world in 2005 and the third quickest in history.  The 22-year-old, who is unbeaten in the event for three years, was just outside his record of 7:53.63 set at the same meeting in 2004.
Shaheen thanked the QAAF officials for the support he got for training and practicing inside Qatar as well as abroad.

He also had special thanks to QAAF’s technical advisor Freddie.
Shaheen vowed that he would train hard and win the gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.