People in the Sport

Omar Alhegelan 

Omar is a champion's champion. He is one of the most focussed skydivers in the world. When he qualified from AFF he said he would win world class freestyle medals and went on to do just that.

Omar wanted to be one of the best at freeflying and certainly achieved and maintains that. Now he is still pushing that classy freefly envelope. He said he would teach well, and his medal winning students are a testimony to that. He is a professional skydiver yet finds time for all, whether students, old friends, new or wannabe friends.

Omar was one of the original Freefly Clowns, he has a chest full of medals and his flying in Patrick Passe's Crosswind is inspirational. He's funny, kind, stubborn, determined, loves our sport and has the deepest brown eyes in the world.

How did you get into skydiving?
I had always wanted to do it. My first jump was October 1993 in Maryland. I had seen this James Bond movie when Jaws went skydiving and James Bond followed him out. I saw on that movie one person going to another and they were not just falling up there. A friend was going to do AFF, this was when freeflying was starting, and he said it was not just "I am, we are". I went with him and the rest speaks for itself. I saw a tape of Scott Smith and I thought "This is cool, I don't have to wait for people to jump with, I can just go". I used to dive in High School. With skydiving you are not hurting yourself hitting the water.

When did you decide you wanted to be a World Champion?
Within the first month I knew I wanted to be world champion, and people were laughing at me. It took me three years after that. I did AFF in five jumps. I wanted to get going.

How long did it take you?
My first competition was 11 months after AFF, with the World Freestyle Federation in Eloy in 1994. I took second place, missing gold by one point. In 1995 I went to Germany and took third place, and in 1996 I went with Olly King rather than Olav to Turkey and took first place at the World Cup. In 1997 we won the World Championship and the World Air Games. In 1996 Olav, Charles and I took first place in all four events of the four ESPN tour stops.

What do you like about competitions?
It is showing what you can do and what others have innovated and done themselves. It is being able to see a lot of people from all over the world. It is like family reunions now. First of all I was fixated with being World Champion then it became sharing what I had and others sharing with me.

Tell us about your training
A lot of skydivers don't realise how difficult our job is in training and practising. If you are a runner you buy your Nike trainers and you train for 8 hours. If we get 12 jumps we are lucky to get 12 minutes of training. You have to rack up the knowledge and education and the rewards are not big.

What is the reward?
The reward is knowing that you made a good skydive. The reward is your peers understanding and seeing what you are doing and seeing the amazement and joy from them.

Tell us about the Arizona Freeflight school in Eloy
I opened the Freeflight at Titusville in Florida and eight months later opened in Arizona, that was November 1998. It is giving back what you have learnt and trying to share.

Does teaching bring rewards?
Yes, very much. The reward is the look on a student's face when they are in the air and you come right up to them and you are both falling. It is beautiful and worth a thousand gold medals!

What's your favourite skydiving?
Innovation, what we are doing now is trying to work on 3D RW. We're working with members of Arizona Airspeed to develop some blocks and randoms, two guys sit and two guys are face to earth. I like doing a lot of filming, tracking on your back and tracking dives.

What's next?
I travel round the world, seeing friends, meeting new ones, seeing what is untapped. We have only discovered the tip of the iceberg, under the water, out there, is the rest of the iceberg. We have discovered a new way of flying. It is evolution.

What did you do before?
I studied history and psychology at university, I became an equity dealer, started a business in Saudi Arabia in construction supply work, then opened a Sushi bar in Maryland, ten minutes from Washington DC. I then started skydiving and stopped all that.

What is your nationality?
I was born in Spain, in 1966. I am Saudi Arabian, American resident.

What advice do you have for new skydivers?
Go for it. Do it, ask around and get as much information as possible. Try to get some one on one coaching. It might cost more at first but it will pay off. Now people are doing stuff at 150 jumps that took me hundreds.

What do your family think about your skydiving?
They are extremely supportive and extremely proud - but extremely scared!

Where do you see yourself five years from now?
I cannot tell you. I live from day to day.

What are your other great loves?
Arts, philosophy, music, poetry, mankind in general.

Describe yourself in three words
Simple, compassionate, motivated.

Anything else to say to Skydive readers?
Come and freefly in the sun of Arizona Freeflight. It is beautiful.

Omar was talking to Jo Malone

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