Qatar struggles with overnight Olympics

Doha : "Look! It's the Qataris!" shouts an American businessman, pointing to a hotel bar TV screen showing the Olympics handball match between the team from the Gulf state and France.

Nearby a group of Middle-Eastern men become distracted from their conversation and smoking to watch the match, appearing to revel in the number of fouls committed during the game.

But these people are among a minority watching the Olympics publicly in Qatar.

Despite ambitions to one day host the summer Olympics, the Rio games have not been easy for Qatar on or off the track.

Beforehand, sporting officials said they believed its stars, boosted by an ambitious and expensive training programme, could double the number of medals ever won -- four -- by Qatar at the Olympics.

So far though Qatar has only one medal, but can at least take consolation that high jumper Mutaz Barshim managed to secure the country's first ever silver.

And for sports fans in Qatar, watching the Olympics has proved a test of endurance that would not shame any modern-day athlete.

This though is not necessarily because of any lack of enthusiasm for sport, but for reasons of geography and broadcasting.

Doha is six hours ahead of Rio which means the games' main athletics events -- including the blue riband 100m -- did not take place until around 3am local time, as most slept.

Any Usain Bolt fans who wish to see if he can secure a sprint double in the 200m will have to make sure they are awake at 4:25am.

Barshim's groundbreaking success would have been seen by few as it did not start until 2:30am local time, finishing around 4am.

It also means that opportunities to watch the Olympics -- either at home or in public -- have been reduced by the sheer necessity to sleep.

One Peruvian hotel worker based in Doha admitted that several days into the games, she had no idea the Olympics had even begun.

"I think a lot of people like me are too busy with work and have no time to watch the games at night," she told the local Gulf Times newspaper.

Only the most committed follow all the action, including Kenyan jogger Michael, training next to the Khalifa International Stadium which will host the 2019 World Athletics Championship, who told AFP that he watched "every day".

"The 10,000m men, the 800m men, the ladies' 3,000m and the marathon ladies race, but I couldn't see the finish," then again he did have to leave for work at 3am.

No giant screens 

The hotel bar which screened the handball is one of just a handful bars in the capital Doha screening the action from Rio.

And there are no public spaces with giant screens showing the athletics, as happened in Qatar when the football World Cup was hosted in Brazil in 2014, but matches were held at earlier times.

Ubiquitous Qatari broadcaster beIN Sports are showing the games in English and Arabic on three dedicated channels and involve former athletes including British former Olympian Liz McColgan now based in Doha and whose daughter Eilish is competing in Rio.

But the Rio Olympics have been good for one group of people at least – those who work through the night.

One building concierge told AFP how he has spent the first 10 days watching sport, mostly basketball, on the internet during his overnight shifts.

But it is not all good news.

"We (the Philippines) haven't played well, but I have been watching every night," he said.