At the Asian Games in Doha last winter, squalls of rain threatened to mar a lavish opening ceremony.
As Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, a son of Qatar’s ruler, rode an Arabian horse up a flight of wet steps, his mount slipped. The entire stadium missed a heartbeat as presentational disaster loomed, but Sheikh Tamim, a skilled equestrian, managed to guide the stallion up the last few metres to light the Olympic flame.
