JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia is gearing up for what is being hailed as one of its most important appearances in the Olympic Games.
The Kingdom will make its 13th appearance at the Summer Olympics and will be among 206 countries competing from July 26 to Aug. 11 in Paris.
Seven athletes have qualified and will participate in showjumping (four), Taekwondo (one), shot put (one) and pole vault (one).
The squad will look to better their tally of one silver medal from the Tokyo Games won by Tariq Hamdi in the 75 kg karate competition.
Habib Al-Amin, executive director of the Saudi Arabian Athletics Federation and Shaddad Al-Omari, president of the Saudi Taekwondo Federation, told Arab News recently they were looking forward to the competition.
Both lauded the support provided by the Saudi Olympic & Paralympic Committee.
Speaking from Antalya in Turkiye, where taekwondo competitor Donia Abu Taleb is holding her training camp, Al-Omari said the contest would likely be intense.
“Competing against the best 15 taekwondo players in the world will be a very tough competition but Donia is capable of winning. She is not there to participate but to compete.”
Al-Amin added: “We are extremely proud of our track and field athletes for the hard work they put in to achieve this level of excellence.
“(Mohammed) Tolo (shotput) and (Hussain) Al-Hizam (pole vault) exerted their best efforts to reach the Paris games. Definitely, we have high hopes in both athletes and looking forward to their performance.”
Saudi Arabia athletes who have qualified for Paris:
Show jumping
Saudi Arabia won first place in the Group G qualifiers at the Doha International Show Jumping Championship in 2023. They last competed in London in 2012.
The team are: Ramzi Al-Dahami, Abdullah Al-Sharbatly, Abdul Rahman Al-Rajhi and Khaled Al-Mabti.
Taekwondo
Donia Abu Taleb competes in the 49 kg category and will be Saudi Arabia’s only female at this Olympics. She sealed her participation at the Asian Olympic qualifying tournaments.
The 27-year-old is Saudi Arabia’s best chance of winning a medal in Paris.
The current world No. 4 won bantamweight bronze at the 2022 Asian championships, and flyweight bronze at the world championships in Mexico in the same year.
Shot put
Mohammed Tolu broke the Asian record and attained Olympic qualifying with a throw of 21.80 meters in Madrid on June 24, bettering his personal best of 20.80 meters.
Tolu won silver at the Asian Games last summer in Hangzhou, China, in a tight contest.
Pole vault
Hussain Al-Hizam was the last athlete to qualify for the Games. On June 24, Al-Hizam won a bronze medal at the Memorial Czeslawa Cybulskiego in Poznan, Poland, with a height of 5.62 meters.
He won a bronze medal at the 19th Asian Games in 2023 and gold at the 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games. His personal bests are 5.70 meters indoors and outdoors.
Saudi Arabia’s Olympic Games history
The Kingdom began competing in 1965 when the International Olympic Committee approved its participation.
The country has competed in 12 Summer Games, first appearing in Munich in 1972 and only missed the 1980 Moscow Games.
The nation won its first two Olympic medals in Sydney in 2000. Hadi Soua’an Al-Somaily won silver in the men’s 400-meter hurdles and Khaled Al-Eid won bronze in individual show jumping.
In 2012, the Kingdom’s first female athletes participated in the London Games. Sarah Attar represented the nation in the 800 meters, and Wojdan Shaherkani competed in women’s judo.
