Saudi Women in the London Summer Olympics?

Qatar and Brunei have also previously banned women from their olympic teams but both plan to send women to the London olympics. All three should have been banned years ago for the same reason that South Africa was banned during the apartheid era.

intresting . . . ^ ^

gashead wrote:

Qatar and Brunei have also previously banned women from their olympic teams but both plan to send women to the London olympics. All three should have been banned years ago for the same reason that South Africa was banned during the apartheid era.

Totally agree! 

But my question is, how can they find, qualify and arrange for Saudi women to compete in the Olympics with only ONE MONTH till the games begin?

I guess they'll probably enter the one girl who had INDEPENDENTLY competed before (see the 2nd paragraph of the article) and call her the Saudi National "Team."  Does this meet the Olympic standards?  I don't know.  Maybe one of you google-happy bloggers wants to find out for us

Other reports (I think the BBC) name the showjumper as the only woman KSA intend to send. Not sure about pre qualifying.

gashead wrote:

Other reports (I think the BBC) name the showjumper as the only woman KSA intend to send. Not sure about pre qualifying.

I can't say for other sports although I'm sure they must have finished all qualifying events by now surely. Equestrians are already qualified, there are enough riders to send a team for Saudi including her. I'm thinking it is a pretty sure thing they are going as they have just reduced a drug ban allowing them to compete. It wouldn't have been cheap for them so they are not going to want to waste their money only to be disqualified over discriminating against her. I'm sure she will be at the games even if others are not.

Alliecat wrote:

gashead wrote:

Qatar and Brunei have also previously banned women from their olympic teams but both plan to send women to the London olympics. All three should have been banned years ago for the same reason that South Africa was banned during the apartheid era.

Totally agree! 

But my question is, how can they find, qualify and arrange for Saudi women to compete in the Olympics with only ONE MONTH till the games begin?
I guess they'll probably enter the one girl who had INDEPENDENTLY competed before (see the 2nd paragraph of the article) and call her the Saudi National "Team."  Does this meet the Olympic standards?  I don't know.  Maybe one of you google-happy bloggers wants to find out for us

Obviously no women can prepare and fit for Olympics within one month of preparation. Perhaps the permission was delayed on purpose....
By the way the topic was posted earlier
http://www. expat-blog.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=174914

I hope Saudi Women team will perform better in Olympics then Men...

FYI Saudi have only ever won two medals at the olympics (both at Sydney 2000).

Hadi Al Somayli - Silver in the men's 400 hurdles.
Kalid Al Eid - Bronze in the men's individual showjumping.

umm , i understand , but lets just keep our heads up and hope the Saudi team will perform well and came back safe to us ...

There's been a lot of online joking about women running hurdles/swimming/doing the broad jump all while being forced to wear abayas!

Let's face it--no women will be allowed to 'officially' compete except for the equestrian girl who has already proven herself on her own initiate and on her own dime (or should I say halala?).

UPDATE:  Pioneering Saudi woman to miss Games

Dalma Rushdi Malhas, tipped to become a pioneering woman competitor for Saudi Arabia at the London Olympics, has in fact failed to qualify and won't compete, the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) said Monday.

"There have been some reports in the media, but regretfully the Saudi Arabian rider Dalma Rushdi Malhas has not attained the minimum eligibility standards and consequently will not be competing at the London 2012 Olympic Games," FEI Secretary General Ingmar De Vos said in a statement out of Lausanne.

"However, we understand that the International Olympic Committee has a number of other female athletes from Saudi Arabia in other sports who are currently under consideration."

Saudi Arabia, where public sports events for women are banned, has never fielded women in the Olympics.

Malhas, born in the United States, won a bronze medal at the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics without having been nominated by her country, following an invitation from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

"The FEI is very proud to have been the International Federation to field the first female athlete from Saudi Arabia at the Youth Olympic Games when Dalma won individual bronze in the Jumping, and we very much look forward to seeing her on the Olympic stage again," De Vos said.

Malhas, 20, had been aiming to achieve the minimum eligibility standard required for the Olympic Games by the June 17 deadline, but her horse was sidelined by injury and missed a month's work during the qualifying period.

The 12-year-old Swedish mare Caramell KS, which was bought from Swedish rider Svante Johansson at the end of 2011, was found to be suffering from a back problem, putting an end to her hopes of competing in London.

"It would have been a great opportunity to have a female athlete on the Saudi equestrian team," Malhas's mother Arwa Mutabagani said.

"But Dalma is young and she is determined to represent Saudi Arabia at the highest level, so we have great hopes for Rio 2016."

Last week, the BBC reported that the Saudi Olympic Committee will "oversee participation of women athletes who can qualify" for the Games.

The issue of women in sport remains extremely sensitive in the ultra-conservative Muslim state, where women are not even allowed to drive cars and the authorities shut down private gyms for women in 2009 and 2010.

"It's very sensitive," a senior Saudi official told the BBC.

"King Abdullah is trying to initiate reform in a subtle way, by finding the right balance between going too fast or too slow."

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei are the only three countries never to have sent women athletes to the Olympics.

But Qatar has already announced it will send a three-woman team to London made up of shooter Bahia Al-Hamad, swimmer Nada Wafa Arakji and Noor Al-Malki, a 100m and 200m sprinter.

Brunei, meanwhile, will send a woman to London as part of their two-athlete delegation -- 400m hurdler Maziah Mahusin.

couldn't agree more , its like way to good to be true ><

UPDATE:  (big surprise here... blah:P)

Report: No Saudi women qualified for Olympics


RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — No women from Saudi Arabia have qualified for the London Olympics, a newspaper from the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom reported.

The story in the pan-Arab daily newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat — an important media tool for Saudi rulers — said Saudi male athletes have qualified to compete in track, equestrian and weightlifting at the games that start in less than three weeks.

There is no "female team taking part in the three fields," the report said Sunday, quoting an unidentified Saudi official. He said no female athlete had taken part in qualifying events in Saudi Arabia, which severely restricts women in public life.

Saudi leaders have been under pressure to end the practice of sending all-male teams to international competitions. They could face IOC sanctions after the London Games if women are excluded from the country's Olympic team.

The Saudi Embassy in London said two weeks ago that women who qualify will be allowed to compete. Last week, IOC President Jacques Rogge said he remains optimistic the Gulf kingdom will send women to the games for the first time.

They should be thrown out of the games.

gashead wrote:

They should be thrown out of the games.

I totally agree (and of course everybody had to know that this would be the outcome so I think the Olympic Committee should somehow be sanctioned).

The point of course is not that none qualified, that's fine, but none were allowed to qualify by the Saudi government.

I sure wish they'd make up their minds!!!!!!


LATEST UPDATE (6/12/12):

Saudis to send 2 women to London Games

LONDON (AP) — Every country competing at the London Games will include female athletes for the first time in Olympic history after Saudi Arabia agreed Thursday to send two women to compete in judo and track and field.

The move by the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom to break with its practice of fielding male-only teams followed decisions by Qatar and Brunei to send women athletes to the Olympics for the first time.

"With Saudi Arabian female athletes now joining their fellow female competitors from Qatar and Brunei, it means that by London 2012 every national Olympic committee will have sent women to the Olympic Games," IOC President Jacques Rogge said.

Saudi Arabia had been under intense pressure from the International Olympic Committee and human-rights groups to include female athletes. The announcement Thursday followed months of IOC negotiations with the Saudis to bring women to London.

The two female Saudi competitors are Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani in judo and 800-meter runner Sarah Attar.

"A big inspiration for participating in the Olympic Games is being one of the first women for Saudi Arabia to be going," the 17-year-old Attar said in an IOC video from her U.S. training base in San Diego. "It's such a huge honor and I hope that it can really make some big strides for women over there to get more involved in sport."

Attar, who has spent most of her life outside of Saudi Arabia, said she hopes her inclusion will encourage women in the conservative kingdom that does not allow women to vote, drive or participate in sports.

"To any woman who wants to participate, I say 'go for it,' and don't let anybody hold you back," Attar said in the video after running a lap on the track wearing pants and a headscarf.

"We all have potential to get out there and get moving," she said, speaking with an American accent.

Women in Saudi Arabia bear the brunt of their nation's deeply conservative values. They are often the target of the unwanted attention of the kingdom's intrusive religious police, who enforce a rigid interpretation of Islamic law and make sure men and women do not mix in public.

Women cannot be admitted to the hospital or take a job without permission from a male guardian.

There are no written laws that prohibit women from participating in sports, but women are not allowed into stadiums and they cannot rent athletic venues. There is no physical education for girls in public schools, and no women-only hours at swimming pools.

Women cannot register for sports clubs, league competitions and other female-only tournaments with the government. They are banned from entering all-male national trials, which makes it impossible for them to qualify for international competitions, including the Olympics.

Attar and Shahrkhani were entered for the London Games by the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee by Monday's deadline.

Neither qualified to compete in the Olympics, but received special invitations from the IOC "based on the quality of the athletes," Rogge said.

"We've looked at the ones who are the closest to qualifying standards and these were these two athletes," he said. "That's always the bottom line in all these invitations."

Rights groups hailed the decision as a step forward for Saudi women in their quest for basic rights, but emphasized that the fundamental problem in the Gulf country — the legal gender segregation — remains firmly in place.

"The participation of two Saudi women in London is an important breakthrough, but will not hide the fact that millions of Saudi girls are effectively banned from sports in schools in Saudi Arabia," said Minky Worden of Human Rights Watch.

"Now is the time for the International Olympic Committee to use its leverage and lay down achievable conditions to jump-start sport in the kingdom."

Rogge said the IOC will continue to support female Saudi athletes with scholarships and other programs.

"This is not new, we have done it in the past," Roggue said. "We'll now do it with more athletes. That's the best way to improve the skills."

The Gulf kingdom also will include female officials in their Olympic delegation for the first time.

About 10,500 athletes are expected to compete in London, representing more than 200 national Olympic committees.

"The IOC has been working very closely with the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee and I am pleased to see that our continued dialogue has come to fruition," Rogge said. "The IOC has been striving to ensure a greater gender balance at the Olympic Games, and today's news can be seen as an encouraging evolution."

The IOC said Brunei has entered one woman in track and field, Maziah Mahusin, while Qatar has entered four female athletes — swimmer Nada Arkaji, track athlete Noor al-Malki, table tennis player Aya Magdy and shooter Bahiya al-Hamad.

Qatar announced on Wednesday that al-Hamad will be the country's flag-bearer at the opening ceremony on July 27.

"I'm overwhelmed to have been asked to carry the Qatari flag at the opening ceremony," she said. "It's a truly historic moment for all athletes."

The goal of gender equity is enshrined in the IOC's charter, but has proved difficult to achieve.

At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, 26 national teams had no women. The figure dropped to three in Beijing four years ago.

In Beijing, women represented 42 percent of the athletes, and the figure is expected to increase in London. Women's boxing is included on the Olympic program in London for the first time.

I have just watched the Olympic Athletes procession live and there were at least 4 Saudi women walking with the men. It will be interesting to know what they will be competing in. The women were walking behind the men from what I could see.

1maxboss wrote:

I have just watched the Olympic Athletes procession live and there were at least 4 Saudi women walking with the men. It will be interesting to know what they will be competing in. The women were walking behind the men from what I could see.

One of them will be competing in Judo and from what I read yesterday, she has agreed to do it without the hijab.  We'll see what happens ...

I read the opposite, that she won't compete without the hijab.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-s … 81943.html

Anyone know what station is showing the games? I don't think I have OSN (I don't pay a bill but have a ridiculous amount of channels but only 4 / 5 English one from what I can gather).

I stayed up to watch the opening ceremony last night on BBC News as they had a countdown, but they were just counting down to the fact that they were starting and NOT showing it. Was raging when it got to 11pm!

I read that she'd agreed, although I didn't see how that could be possible.

So maybe that's the plan?  With a lot of these sports, head coverings are banned so although Saudi has entered women they won't be allowed to compete (but they have satisfied the west because, after all, they DID enter women).

Not sure. They're saying she can't for safety reasons, chokeholds etc which is a valid point. 

I'd say she will be allowed to wear it though as judo federations in Asia allow hijabs.

Just checked the Olympics site and there are only 2 women competing in the 'Saudi camp' so not sure what the other 2 girls I saw in the opening athletes procession are doing in the team.

The Judo girl is Wojdan Shaherkani (she has her picture on the site- you can see her face- no comment from me on that!) and then there is Sarah Attar who is competing in the 800m Athletics (she doesn't have a picture on the site)

http://www.london2012.com/country/saudi … index.html

The other two will be coaches.

The judo girl is set to pull out anyway (or at least her father says she will). She wants to wear a hijab while fighting. The ruling body has quite rightly said it's too dangerous. So that's one down one to go. I think she only went to prevent the Olympic Committee from throwing KSA out completely.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19046923

gashead wrote:

I think she only went to prevent the Olympic Committee from throwing KSA out completely.

I agree.  Now, I wonder if the runner will want to wear an abaya?

Alliecat wrote:

gashead wrote:

I think she only went to prevent the Olympic Committee from throwing KSA out completely.

I agree.  Now, I wonder if the runner will want to wear an abaya?

No but I think she is insisting an elderly male relative runs beside her. That could be a show stopper.

still if she does . it would be hard for her to compete if the opinion grab the Hijab , and its a judo if im not mistaken !!?   

well she got to do what she got to do, no ??

gashead wrote:

No but I think she is insisting an elderly male relative runs beside her. That could be a show stopper.

Tell me you're joking.

Found: Saudi Athlete in the Olympics

looks like she's in front of everyone

1maxboss wrote:

looks like she's in front of everyone

Or may be she is a lap down !!

saimans wrote:

Or may be she is a lap down !!

Brilliant! but give the girl a chance

1maxboss wrote:

saimans wrote:

Or may be she is a lap down !!

Brilliant! but give the girl a chance

Yes, I hope she does well.  What she's doing takes guts!!

she is taking alot of that Allicat otherwise how did she made it to the Olympics .

Also i think she will do fine . its her first after all . no one do good on her-his first ...

Hitch wrote:

she is taking alot of that Allicat otherwise how did she made it to the Olympics .

Also i think she will do fine . its her first after all . no one do good on her-his first ...

But wouldn't it be soooooooooooo cool if she brings home a medal and none of the men do?

But wouldn't it be soooooooooooo cool if she brings home a medal and none of the men do?

that's races

it would be so cool but women is women espicailly in KSA . they should be like princes .... cant help it ^ ^

i only wish for her to came safely ...

She is allowed to wear her Hijab:

A female Saudi fighter will take part in the Olympic judo competition after being allowed to wear an Islamic headscarf, or hijab, of a specific design, officials said on Monday.

Source: Al Arabiya

Hitch wrote:

But wouldn't it be soooooooooooo cool if she brings home a medal and none of the men do?

that's races

Not racist--sexist!  But it's about time something in KSA was sexist in favor of women!