Background
Faisal grew up in Baghdad and lived in Wales as a child.
association football player skeleton racer
Faisal grew up in Baghdad and lived in Wales as a child.
He studied business management at the Central Queensland University in Sydney.
Summer sports
Winter sports
In 1998, he vowed to represent Iraq at the Winter Olympics. He applied unsuccessfully for a visa to the United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland, coming instead to Australia to pursue winter sports. He tried a variety of sports.
On weekends in Australia, where he was studying, he practiced skiing and then snowboarding.
He tried speed skating, but was told he would not be able to represent Iraq because the country had no ice rinks. In September 2004, he considered ski jumping but a coach refused to help him.
In November 2004, he called the United States. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, hoping to participate in skeleton, and he was invited to Lake Placid to train. Faisal missed out on qualifying for the 2006 Winter Olympics after missing half of the Olympic season because of administrative challenges.