Saudi Arabia at the Olympics

Saudi Arabia at the
Olympics
IOC codeKSA
NOCSaudi Arabian Olympic Committee
Websiteolympic.sa (in Arabic and English)
Medals
Ranked 120th
Gold
0
Silver
2
Bronze
2
Total
4
Summer appearances
Winter appearances

Saudi Arabia has competed in twelve Summer Olympic Games. They first appeared in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. Saudi Arabia made their debut in the Winter Olympics in 2022.

Women's participation in the Olympics

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Sarah Attar is a track and field athlete who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics as one of the first two female Olympians representing Saudi Arabia. She also competed in the marathon at the 2016 Olympics.

Prior to June 2012, Saudi Arabia banned female athletes from competing at the Olympics.[1][2] However, following the International Olympic Committee pressuring the Saudi Olympic Committee to send female athletes to the 2012 Summer Olympics, in June 2012 the Saudi Embassy in London announced this had been agreed.[3][4]

There were calls for Saudi Arabia to be barred from the Olympics until it permitted women to compete, notably from Anita DeFrantz, chair of the International Olympic Committee's Women and Sports Commission, in 2010.[5] In 2008, Ali Al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, likewise called for Saudi Arabia to be barred from the Games, describing its ban on women athletes as a violation of the International Olympic Committee charter. Stating that gender discrimination should be no more acceptable than racial discrimination, he noted: "For the last 15 years, many international nongovernmental organizations worldwide have been trying to lobby the IOC for better enforcement of its own laws banning gender discrimination. [...] While [its] efforts did result in increasing numbers of women Olympians, the IOC has been reluctant to take a strong position and threaten the discriminating countries with suspension or expulsion."[6]

Dalma Rushdi Malhas competed at the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics and won a bronze medal in equestrian (see Saudi Arabia at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics). Saudi Arabia agreed on July 12, 2012, to send two women to compete in that year's Games in London, England: the two female athletes were Wojdan Shaherkani in judo, and 800-meter runner Sarah Attar.[7]

Medals

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See also: All-time Olympic Games medal table

Medals by Summer Games

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Games Athletes Gold Silver Bronze Total Rank
1972 Munich 10 0 0 0 0 –
1976 Montreal 19 0 0 0 0 –
1980 Moscow did not participate
1984 Los Angeles 39 0 0 0 0 –
1988 Seoul 9 0 0 0 0 -
1992 Barcelona 9 0 0 0 0 -
1996 Atlanta 32 0 0 0 0 -
2000 Sydney 18 0 1 1 2 61
2004 Athens 17 0 0 0 0 –
2008 Beijing 15 0 0 0 0 –
2012 London 18 0 0 1 1 79
2016 Rio de Janeiro 11 0 0 0 0 -
2020 Tokyo 33 0 1 0 1 77
2024 Paris 8 0 0 0 0 -
2028 Los Angeles future event
2032 Brisbane
Total 0 2 2 4 123

Medals by Winter Games

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Games Athletes Gold Silver Bronze Total Rank
2022 Beijing 1 0 0 0 0 -
2026 Milano Cortina future event
2030 French Alps
2034 Salt Lake City
Total 0 0 0 0 -

Medals by sport

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SportGoldSilverBronzeTotal
 Athletics0101
 Karate0101
 Equestrian0022
Totals (3 entries)0224

List of medalists

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Medal Name Games Sport Event
 Silver Hadi Al-Somaily 2000 Sydney Athletics Men's 400 metre hurdles
 Bronze Khaled Al Eid 2000 Sydney Equestrian Individual show jumping
 Bronze Ramzy Al Duhami
Abdullah Al Saud
Kamal Bahamdan
Abdullah Sharbatly		 2012 London Equestrian Team jumping
 Silver Tareg Hamedi 2020 Tokyo Karate Men's +75 kg

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Gardner, Frank (June 24, 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Saudis allow women to compete". BBC News. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
  2. ^ "Rice hopes Saudi women will soon compete in Olympics" Archived January 3, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, AFP, August 17, 2008
  3. ^ "Saudi women vie for Olympic rights", BBC, June 13, 2008
  4. ^ Gardner, Frank (June 24, 2012). "London 2012 Olympics: Saudis allow women to compete". BBC News. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
  5. ^ "Qatar decision to send female athletes to London 2012 increases pressure on Saudi Arabia", Inside the Games, July 1, 2010
  6. ^ "Bar countries that ban women athletes", Ali Al-Ahmed, New York Times, May 19, 2008
  7. ^ "Saudis to send two women to London Olympics". My FOX NY.com. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2012.
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