Death of a Paralympian: The tragedy of Abdullah Hayayei – and why his family need answers

New York Times

30-01-2025

When Abdullah Hayayei set off for London on July 5, 2017, it was too early in the morning to say goodbye to his family at home in the United Arab Emirates.
They had moved into a new house in Mirbih, a coastal district of Fujairah, only a few days before and everyone needed the rest. He did not want to create a big scene.
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Besides, the family had become accustomed to farewells — they thought it would not be long before Hayayei, a 36-year-old father of five, returned from his travels.
This was the nature of life as an athlete, one that had seen him travel to Rio de Janeiro's Paralympics in 2016, where he reached the final of the javelin F34 and shot put F34 events, and which was now taking him to London for the World Para Athletics Championships.
The plan was for Hayayei to spend eight days in the UK capital preparing for the event, and be away from home for just short of three weeks. Instead, within a fortnight, his repatriated body was being buried in Mirbih: Hayayei had been killed after a metal pole, attached to a throwing cage, fell on him during a training session at Newham Leisure Centre. His fame in the UAE was reflected by the enormous crowd at the cemetery — mourners had travelled from all over the country to pay their respects.
Hayayei's death sparked a UK criminal investigation which lasted nearly seven and a half years. On Friday, UK Athletics (UKA) — the body which oversees the sport in the United Kingdom — and Keith Davies, the 77-year-old former head of sport at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships, will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court.
UKA has been charged earlier this month with corporate manslaughter — it faces an unlimited fine if found guilty — and Davies with gross negligence manslaughter, a charge which carries a possible life prison sentence. Both have also been charged with a Health and Safety at Work Act offence.
The consequences for Davies, UKA and the sport in Britain could be profound but, 3,500 miles away in Mirbih, the start of the trial offers hope for Hayayei's family that they could finally have closure.
There, in the house he never really lived in, they all miss him greatly. His eldest son, Mohamed, was 14 when he last spoke to his father. Now 21, he recalls trying to call him on the day of his death but nobody answered. At the same time, on another line, his uncle Adam was receiving the dreadful news that Hayayei had been killed.
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Hayayei's wife Badriya was the last person in the family to have contact with him, four and a half hours before he died. Hayayei told his wife about how excited he was at the prospect of competing at the Olympic Stadium, a couple of miles from where he was training in Newham.
He wanted to finish the call by talking to Maria, his youngest daughter, but she was asleep and Badriya ended up sending her husband a photograph of the baby girl. Maria is nine now and she only remembers her father through fading images.
Mirbih, a couple of hours drive through the barren mountains to the east of Dubai, is a small, neat town on a grid plan with only low-rise buildings. At one end of the tree-lined road where the Hayayei family live, there is a mosque calling afternoon prayers; the other offers views of the Indian Ocean.
There is wealth here but it does not show like in other parts of the UAE. It is a quiet, calm place, with a strip of butchers, grills and laundrettes. People tend to be extremely humble and welcoming: foreign visitors are in short supply.
The Hayayei home is fortified by tall walls and its cool living spaces have high ceilings. In the spacious front yard, there is a play area for the children.
Abdullah was the seventh of nine siblings — six boys and three girls. Rashid, the head of the family, was Abdullah's older brother by 14 years but he describes their relationship as close.
Tragedy stalked Abdullah throughout his short life. His father died when he was three and, aged 21, he suffered serious injuries in an accident which had remarkable parallels to the one that would end it 16 years later.
Abdullah, who always loved the outdoor life, had dreamt of becoming a paratrooper and volunteered to join the military after leaving school. 'He was very excited about the future,' Rashid tells The Athletic, through a translator. 'He would sign up for training missions. He realised the missions were an opportunity to earn more money and get promoted quicker. He was willing to learn.'
Those plans were destroyed when he was struck on the head by a metal rod connected to a parachute during a training exercise. Abdullah was lucky to be alive but his injuries affected the right side of his body, requiring operations to correct nerve damage to his neck, and subsequently problems with his hand, arm and leg. He spent a year recovering in Germany but he was left disabled.
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Though Abdullah was placed on a full pension by the military, he was essentially retired and Rashid was concerned about his brother's mental health. Still a young man, a life which had promised so much suddenly appeared to lack purpose.
'But Abdullah was determined to make something of himself,' Rashid says. 'He was a young person with a lot of energy. It had to have somewhere to go. He had to let it out.' Though his favourite sport was swimming, as soon as he joined the Khor Fakkan sports club, a 15-minute drive north from Mirbih, he became 'obsessed' with throwing.
The facilities at Khor Fakkan, located in an exclave of Sharjah, were good and the coaching excellent, offering Abdullah the opportunity to thrive. 'Sport became his absolute focus,' Rashid adds. 'Sometimes able-bodied athletes have other distractions but outside of his family life, Abdullah put everything into his training, especially his upper-body strength.'
His achievements in national competition led to opportunities abroad. After returning from an international athletics meeting in Marrakech in 2009 with a gold medal, he was invited to meet the country's future president (then vice) Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at his palace. After silver and bronze medals at subsequent events in other countries, the ruler of Sharjah, Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, increased funding for para athletes. 'Abdullah's success helped make a lot of people with disabilities feel like they were an important part of the community in the UAE,' says Rashid.
At the Rio Olympics in 2016, his F34 class included competitors with moderate to severe hypertonia (extreme muscle tone, resulting in stiffness or rigidity) in both legs, as well as significant difficulties in standing, balancing and walking. He would place seventh in the shot put final and sixth in the javelin. It was his first taste of the Olympics and he was confident of doing better in Tokyo four years later.
His younger brother Adam speaks of Abdullah's 'continuous journey of perseverance towards excellence'.
'We were very proud of him,' he adds.
Whenever he travelled abroad, the family remained in Mirbih, watching him compete on television or YouTube. In early 2017, he brought home bronze and silver medals from the West Asian Games in Turkmenistan.
Rashid, who retired from the UAE police in 2024 after 35 years' service, says his brother viewed London as a dry run for Tokyo, and had allowed extra time in London so he could 'get used to the city, the stadium, and the people'.
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'As soon as prayer was done,' Rashid continues, 'he dedicated himself to his preparation. He went to the Olympic Stadium just to look at it and imagine himself competing. He was very excited, very optimistic about his chances. He always used to say, 'If you wear a vest with your country's flag on it, you have to fight for it. Otherwise you shouldn't wear it.' He was always going for gold.'
That opportunity did not arrive. Six days later, Adam received an evening phone call from the UAE athletics committee, telling him about what had happened at Newham. He informed his brothers straight away, but before he was able to figure out how to deal with his immediate family, the news appeared on social media, spreading into WhatsApp groups. This led to a mourner arriving at the door of the family's new home.
According to both Rashid and Adam, Abdullah was their mother's favourite son because of his positive outlook towards life. After hearing about his death, Moza collapsed, suffering a stroke which left her in hospital for a fortnight.
The sense of disbelief was particularly acute with his sons, especially 14-year-old Mohamed. He holds onto a conversation he had with his father only a day before his death. He was used to taking responsibility because when his father was away, he was dependent on him to fix things around the house and sometimes make decisions alone. 'He wanted me to reduce the headache on the family by taking care of them,' Mohamed says.
On this occasion, there was an issue with a heater. The house was new to Mohamed and he did not know his way around it. 'So I called my dad up and asked for advice before fixing it myself. The next day, after Isha prayers, at 7pm or 8pm, I found out that he'd passed away. I didn't believe it. I was like, 'Come on, there must be a mistake — maybe there's a similarity in names with someone else'. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.'
The family's shock was mirrored in London. There was a statement from the International Paralympic Committee, expressing devastation at Abdullah's death, while Ed Warner, the co-chairman of London 2017, insisted the organisers would 'offer support wherever it is needed'.
Following a period of silence at the opening ceremony three days after his death, the competition proceeded as planned. Given what will happen in a Westminster court room at the end of this week, Hayayei's family are understandably reluctant to be drawn too far into their impressions about the causes of Abdullah's death as well as the reactions of the authorities. There is, though, a quiet determination for the truth to be revealed, and gratitude to the UK legal system for pursuing the case.
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'They have been sharing detailed and regular updates with us regarding the progress and developments of the investigation,' Adam explains. 'The investigation teams have consistently responded to all our inquiries with cooperation and thoroughness.
'Communication with them is ongoing and they continue to update us on the case's progress as new developments arise. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the various British police teams for their cooperation and dedication in seeking justice for my brother Abdullah.'
In Mirbih, they will be waiting for news. While the impact of Hayayei's death has been felt emotionally, it has also invited financial challenges for the family, which still receives his pension, albeit on reduced terms.
Aside from Mohamed, the Paralympian left behind Hassan (aged 16), as well as three daughters, Hawa (20), Hoor (14) and, of course, nine-year-old Maria. She is able to talk now — a spirited and cheerful little girl. But she will never know the father who so desperately wanted to say goodnight from the other side of the world seven and a half years ago.
'At the end of the day it's God's will,' reflects Rashid. 'However, if something was wrong about the circumstances of Abdullah's death, as a family we have the right to know about that.'
(Top image: photos via the Hayayei family; design: Eamonn Dalton)