JEDDAH: The Saudi Arabia National Olympic Committee is to send five national teams that met qualifying standards to the 2008 Beijing Olympics from Aug. 8 to 24, culminating the four years of hard work, training camps in the country and abroad and stints at world championships.
These teams are equestrian, athletics, shooting, swimming and weightlifting. In addition, both athletic and weightlifting teams with special needs also qualified to compete in the Paralympic Games from Sep. 7 to 17.
Prince Abdullah ibn Miteb will be leading the seven-man equestrian team that qualified for the show jumping event. Joining the prince are veteran riders Kamal Bahamdan, Ramzi Al-Duhami, Prince Faisal Al-Shallan, Adnan Al-Baytouni, Fahad Al-Eid and Abdullah Al-Sharbatly. Weightlifting have two spots for the Olympic team and the final lineup will be decided at a later date.
Twenty-year -old Bader Al-Muhana from the swimming team qualified as did Saeed Al-Mutairi from the shooting squad.
Prince Nawaf ibn Faisal, deputy-president of the General Presidency of Youth Welfare, is the Kingdom's head of delegation in the world's largest sporting event. Saudi Olympic Committee Secretary-General Rashed Al-Heraiwel said the committee had created sub-committees to supervise the preparations for the Olympics. The athletes too, he added, are being provided with qualified coaches to sharpen their skills and give it their best shot for the Kingdom.
To allow the athletes enough time to acclimatize to the city of Beijng Al-Heraiwel assured they would be there well ahead of Games kickoff.
In addition, a Saudi cultural delegation will join the Olympic team. This, according to Al-Heeraiwel, will help right the wrong misconceptions about Saudi society through cultural presentations and folklore. On the issue of doping, Bader Al-Saeed, secretary-general of the Saudi Arabian Anti-Doping Committee (SAADC), said, "I have faith we would not face any problems, because our athletes are aware of the doping danger. They are glad they made it to that level and would not ruin it." He said his committee had undergone several workshops for the athletes during their training camps and would join the teams in Beijing too.
In the 28-year history of the Kingdom's Olympic participation, the country managed to win two medals in the 2000 Sydney Games courtesy of 32-year old hurdler Hadi Souan, who delivered the silver in the 400-meter hurdles in 47.53 seconds, and veteran equestrian Khalid Al-Eid, 39, who landed the bronze medal with his horse Khashm Al-Aan.
For Souan winning an Olympic medal was a high water mark in Saudi sports.
"Nothing is impossible. No one goes knowing he would become an Olympian but they go there to reach that and with determination many athletes achieved that," Souan told Arab News when asked what was the secret to his success.
His advice to his fellow athletes is, " to focus, set a goal, and work hard to reach that goal without underestimating one's skills or abilities."
Meanwhile, the Saudi Olympic debut was during the 1972 Summer Games in Munich when the country sent an athletics team also was the Kingdom's only team in the 1976 Montréal Olympics. Saudi missed the 1980 Moscow Olympics. In the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics Saudi Arabia participated with three teams namely archery, cycling and football. In the 1988 Olympics in Seoul the archery and athletics teams represented the Kingdom, while in the 1992 and 1996 editions in Barcelona and Atlanta the Saudi Arabia participation was limited to the athletics team. The national teams of equestrian, athletics and swimming saw action in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and four years later in Athens the Kingdom had the biggest delegation in its history with six teams having qualified. These are athletics, equestrian, shooting, swimming, table tennis and weightlifting.
"We have high expectations the teams would bring laurels to the Kingdom especially the equestrian and athletics teams," Al-Heraiwel said.
By Razan Baker
© Arab News 2008
