My Sportsman Choice: Child Camel Jockeys

By Andrew Lawrence

In 1993, the United Arab Emirates announced a ban on jockeys under the age of 15. AP  Chris Stone: Red Sox Nation, you've earned this one  Paul Zimmerman: Boy Wonder brought Boston a title  B.J. Schecter: Red Sox captured Boston's heart  Richard Deitsch: The Babe had a big presence in '04  Rick Reilly: Big Papi did it all for the world champs  Jeffri Chadiha: A reward for reversing The Curse  Lisa Altobelli: Ramirez never took anything seriously  • Sportsman of the Year archive

How much longer must the child camel jockey labor in obscurity before he is recognized? For decades he's been malnourished and mistreated but still managed to ride to the delight of oil-rich sheikhs in the United Arab Emirates. The child camel jockey is hardly there by choice. As a youngster he's been sold or smuggled out of poverty in Pakistan and Bangladesh and, by some accounts, raped by the people he serves.

The child camel jockey is between 3- and 15-years-old and ideally weighs 50 pounds. Each day he rises at 3 a.m. to train, often flogged awake with his camel whip in a flout of Islamic Law. He fills his days doting over his steed from head to hoof. At night, he retreats to a camp encircled in barbed wire. Here, abuse is just a part of life. Give in, or go home. In a box.

In 1993, under pressure from the U.S., the sheikhs announced a ban on jockeys under 15 years old and 100 pounds. As recently as two years ago, they assured all they'd honor that pledge. But a recent report on HBO's Real Sports showed that statement to be a lie. What is clear is that people like Sheikh Mohammed -- who is the UAE's minister of defense and one of the wealthiest horse buyers in the world -- have proved especially valuable to the U.S. government because the Emirates are a key staging ground for American Forces in the Persian Gulf. Mohammad, a member of the Saudi ruling family, was identified in the HBO report as employing several child jockeys as part of his camel racing empire. (Farah Atassi, a UAE embassy spokeswoman in Washington, told Knight Ridder newspapers last week that the sheik "is not involved in [abusive treatment] because he is the ruler and will not allow anybody to violate the law.")

So it is the child camel jockey who silently protects our capitalist way of life without so much as trotting on our democratic sensibilities. Imagine my conundrum, having to divine which is the greater crime: overlooking the child camel jockey for Sportsman of the Year, or forcing him to be a sportsman at all?

Sports Illustrated will announce the 2004 Sportsman of the Year winner on FOX on November 28. Check back every weekday until then to read more Sportsman picks from SI writers.