DUBAI — Four lucky children from the UAE, three UAE nationals and one Filipino boy, will leave on August 16 on a four-day trip to Beijing Olympics 2008. All expenses for the trip and that of their accompanying guardians will be paid by McDonald's.
The lucky youngsters, ages of 8 to 11 years, are winners of the McDonald's 'Champion Kids' competition that was held on March 16, in collaboration with UAE National Olympics Committee.
The competition aimed at promoting a healthy lifestyle by inspiring young kids to be active by engaging them in sports like the football world cup and the Olympics, Rafic Fakih, Managing Director of McDonald's UAE said yesterday during a meeting of the winners at a luncheon hosted at the McDonald's outlet in Jumeirah.
The children will get the chance to personally meet and interact with Olympic athletes and other 'Champion Kids' winners from across the globe. They will also be shown around historical and iconic Chinese sites.
Excited about actually witnessing the Olympics, eight-year-old Filipino Giorgio Hinolan, the youngest of the four winners, said he filled out the competition form along with his two siblings, who according to him "are very jealous that I won."
His mother, Gloria Hinolan, who will accompany Giorgio, exclaimed, "I first got the call informing me that Giorgio had won, but I didn't believe them, I thought it was a joke!"
Giorgio, who loves playing football and supports Barcelona, said, "I am very excited to go to China and the Olympics and come back to tell my friends all about it."
Omar Baharoon, a UAE national from Abu Dhabi, is a talented 10-year-old who studies in Al Khubairat British School. He is goal-keeper in his club and aspires to some day play for his favourite team — the UAE.
His father, Hashem Baharoon, who works at an oil company and will accompany his son, said, "Omar told us a month before the draw that he had won the trip to the Olympics which has actually come true!"
Apart from possessing extraordinary fortune-telling abilities, to top it all, Omar plays the Violo. Even though, according to his dad, Omar broke his left arm while playing football recently - the injury hasn't deterred him in his passion for the sport one bit.
This will be his second trip to China, according to Omar, who said, "I love watching the Olympics and I am really looking forward to my trip. Besides, I will finally prove to my friends that I won because they still don't believe me."
Ten-year-old and with aspirations to play for the UAE team and become the youngest player to qualify for the football world cup, Ali Al Marzouqi is a patriotic Emirati with ambition. Even though his favourite team is Brazil, Ali hopes to "some day face them in a match."
His father, Mustafa Al Marzouqi, who also loves football, will accompany his son on the trip along with his mother, Zaina Marzouqi.
Ali said, "I am very excited about going to witness the Olympics and I look forward to run at the Great Wall of China."
Ali's father, Mustafa, proudly described how his son was shooting footballs when he was just one and a half years old. "We also have a videotape of him kicking the football at that age," he adds.
The oldest of the bunch and the only girl, 11-year-old Fatima Hussain Ismail Al Muhairi is also a UAE national who studies in Grade VI at Dubai Al Oula Private School. Not to be outmatched by the boys, Fatima is a basketball player and has won every basketball tournament in her school to date.
She visited the McDonald's on a school trip with her friends and emerged as a lucky winner.
She said her friends congratulated her on her win and that she was very happy and excited to go. She also hopes to come back and share her experiences with her friends.
The four winners, who share a common love for Big Macs and sports, at a very young age, are active athletes within their respective communities. Their passion for sports and fitness lifestyles, harnessed and encouraged by their parents is testament to the fact that love for fast food doesn't necessarily mean 'obesity'. Their balanced way of life can be summed up in McDonald's campaign slogan "It's What I Eat And What I do."