A brief guide to Arab World Participation in the Beijing Olympics

As a Palestinian and an Arab I was extremely proud to see such a large contingent of athletes from the Arab World participating in this year’s Olympics. Even though they are being held in Beijing, one of the most repressive nations in the world, the Chinese people themselves have a tremendous and rich culture and heritage that was spectacularly represented in the opening ceremonies. I doubt any opening ceremonies can ever match the spectacle that China orchestrated.

But seeing all the Arab countries participate is an enormous source of pride we should all share. I am especially excited that the Palestinian Athletic team continues to grow despite Israel’s oppressive occupation policies. Here’s a rundown of some facts that I was able to glean from the opening ceremonies and from my own research:

Boycotts:

1956 Games Melbourne, Australia Boycott: to protest the Israeli- planned invasion and occupation of the Sinai.

1976 Games Boycott in Montreal, Canada. Africa’s nation’s boycotted the game sin Montreal after New Zealand broke a world boycott of South Africa’s apartheid regime and participated in a rugby competition. South Africa was banned from Olympic games.

1980 Games Boycott in Moscow, Soviet Union, to protest the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The boycott was initiated by the United States.

1984 Games Boycott. Citing terrorism threats against their team members, the Soviet led a boycott of the Los Angeles, United States games, also partly in protest to the boycott organized in the prior summer games by the United States.

Highlights:

The Arab Nations have hosted their own Olympics. The 11th Arab Olympic Games were held in Egypt in 2007. It was previously hosted by Egypt in 1965 when it was founded to promote Arab Nationalism by Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser.

South Africa was banned from the Olympics between 1964 and 1992 because the nation prohibited Blacks from participating as athletes in its sports programs.

Islamic extremists have threatened to kill female athletes from Muslim countries that have participated in the Olympic Games.

The Arab Athlete to watch: Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco won the 1,500 metres and 5,000 metres at Athens 2004, becoming the first male athlete since Paavo Nurmi, 80 years earlier, to succeed in that double. Prior to Athens, El Guerrouj had won 84 of his 89 races at 1,500 metres or a mile since 1996, At Atlanta 1996, he tripped and fell in the final, finishing 12th. At Sydney 2000, he placed second to Kenya’s Noah Ngeny. The sports pros believe he has a shot at Gold and was named by Time Magazine as one of the top 50 athletes at the Beijing Olympics.

The Olympic Torch in the Biejing Games made its way through only one Arab city and country, arriving in Muscat, Oman on April 14, 2008, the ninth leg of the torch relay that eventually opened the Beijing games in a spectacular display August 8, 2008. The international leg of the Olympic Torch Relay took 33 days and crossed five continents and visited 21 countries. More than 2,000 torch bearers participated in the relay. The 20-kilometer torch relay (of 137,000 total km) in Oman began at al Bustan Palace which features a wooden dhow used to make an eight month water voyage to Guangzhou, a harbor city in southeast China, in 1981.

The International Olympic Committee determines how many athletes a nation may enter into competition, not the athletes’ country.

Although China hopes to use the Olympics to soften the tarnished image caused by its oppressive policies and restrictions on civil rights, the country still is among the leaders in blocking web sites from foreign nations, mostly political or that feature news, opinion and information.

The official IOC Olympics web site is the worst resource for information on the games.

Arab Countries in the Biejing Olympics:

The Arab League was established in 1945 and it currently has 22 member nations defined as being Arab. Here’s a rundown of Arab countries and their Olympic histories:

ALGERIA – athletes. First competed in 1964. One of 26 nations led by African nations to boycott the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada. Competed in Moscow and Los Angeles, Atlanta and Sydney. Has won 12 Olympic medals, including three in 1996 and five in 2000.

In 1996, 1500m runner Noureddine Morceli and lightweight boxer Hocine Soltani won gold. The five medals it won in Sydney were the most ever at a single Games for Algeria. Its lone gold medal in Sydney went to Nouria Merah-Benida in the women’s 1500m. Hassiba Boulmerka won Algeria’s first gold medal in the 1992 Barcelona women’s 1500m. The prior year in 1991, Hassiba Boulmerka of Algeria scored a stunning upset victory in the 1 500m run at the World Athletics Championships. When she returned to Algiers, she was hailed as a national heroine and as a model for Arab women who wanted to break away from restrictive roles. But she was also condemned by Islamic fundamentalists and was forced to move to Europe to train.

BAHRAIN – 15 athletes. Planned to attend the 1980 Olympics but boycotted along with many countries to protest the Soviet Unions invasion of Afghanistan, and attended its first Olympics in 1984. Has never won an Olympic medal, though Adel Darraj won a bronze medal in taekwondo when it was a demonstration sport at the Seoul Olympics.

COMOROS – 3 athletes. Founded its Olympic Committee in 1979 and was officially recognized by the IOC in 1993. Was one of 25 countries that made its Olympic debut in Atlanta. Never won a medal.

DJIBOUTI – 2 athletes. Made its Olympic debut in 1984, when it sent three athletes to Los Angeles in 1984. In 1988, Djibouti earned its first and only Olympic medal when Ahmed Houssein Salah won a bronze in the marathon. He returned this year to carry Djibouti’s flag in the opening ceremony for the competing athletes.

EGYPT – 104 athletes. First competed in 1912. From 1960 to 1968, competed with Syria as the United Arab Republic, but it is believed that most of the athletes were Egyptian. Boycotted the Moscow Olympics in 1980 because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Has won 21 medals. Mohammed Ali Rashwan’s silver in the open judo division in 1984 ended a medal drought since 1960.

Egypt was a weightlifting power in the 1930s and 1940s, dominating the lighter classes. Won five medals in Athens (one gold, one silver, three bronze). Karem Gaber won gold in men’s Greco-Roman wrestling (96kg/211.5 lbs) and boxer Mohamed Aly won silver in the men’s super heavyweight (91kg/201 lbs). No Egyptian woman has ever won an Olympic medal.

IRAQ – 4 athletes. Iraq made its Olympic debut in 1948 and has earned one Olympic medal: Abdul Wahid Aziz’s weightlifting bronze in 1960. In 2004, after the United States invaded and then occupied the country, the Iraqi men’s soccer team qualified for Athens.

JORDAN – 7 athletes. Made its debut in 1980 by sending four athletes to the contentious Moscow Olympics, breaking the Arab League boycott of the Soviet Union because of its invasion of Afghanistan. It has competed at each Olympics since. Has never won an Olympic medal.

KUWAIT – 8 athletes. Kuwait first competed in 1968, and has competed continuously since. Won its first Olympic medal at the 2000 Sydney Games - Fehaid Al Deehani won bronze in the men’s double trap shooting event. Danah Al Nasrallah became Kuwaiti’s first female Olympian in Athens, where she competed in the women’s 100m.

LEBANON – 6 athletes. Lebanon first competed in 1948. Boycotted the 1956 Games in Melbourne to protest Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula. Has won four Olympic medals, none of them gold, and none since 1980. Three have come in Greco-Roman wrestling, the other in weightlifting.

LIBYA –7 athletes. In 1964, Libya’s only athlete in Tokyo was marathon runner Fighi Hassan, but he got sick and could not compete, delaying Libya’s entrance into the Games until 1968. Did not participate in the 1984 Games, although it was not part of the Soviet-led boycott. Did not have any athletes competing in Sydney though it did send a delegation. Sent eight athletes to Athens. Has never won an Olympic medal.

MAURITANIA – 2 athletes. Mauritania was to have competed at the 1980 Games in Moscow but boycotted. Made its debut at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. Had two athletes in both Sydney and Athens. Has never won an Olympic medal. It’s athletes in Track & Field are Bounkou Camara and Souleymane Chabal El Moctar.

MOROCCO – 49 athletes. Has won 19 Olympic medals - six gold, four silver, and nine bronze. Thirteen of the medals have come in men’s track and field. First competed in 1960. Was one of four African nations to participate in the Opening Ceremony of the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Canada, before withdrawing from competition in solidarity with the 22 other African nations that had boycotted the Games. Boycotted the 1980 Games in Moscow.

In 1984, Nawal El Moutawakel won the women’s 400m hurdles and Said Aouita won the men’s 5000m. Some consider Aouita, who was a world-class athlete at every distance between 800m and 10,000m, to be the greatest runner of all time.

Its most infamous medal came in Barcelona - Khalid Skah’s controversial win in the 10,000m. Skah’s lapped teammate, Hammou Boutayeb, interfered with Kenya’s Richard Chelimo, who held a slight lead over Skah. Skah won the race, but Chelimo’s initial protest was granted by officials and he was considered the winner upon Skah’s disqualification. The ruling was later overturned and Skah reinstated as the winner.

Won two medals in Atlanta, both track and field bronzes - Khalid Boulami (men’s 5000m) and Salah Hissou (men’s 10,000). Added five medals in Sydney (one silver, four bronze). The biggest shock was the performance of Hicham El Guerrouj in the men’s 1500m - Kenya’s Noah Ngeny upset the favored Moroccan, who, for the second time, entered the Olympics as a favorite and left without gold.

In Sydney, El Guerrouj managed to hang on for the silver. In Athens, he settled for nothing less than gold, winning both the men’s 5000m and 1500m. He became the first man to do since Finnish great Paavo Nurmi accomplished the feat in 1924. Hasna Benhassi won Morocco’s other medal in Athens, a silver in the women’s 800m.

OMAN – 4 athletes. Made its debut at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. Has not won a medal. Buthaina Yaqoubi is Oman’s first female athlete to compete in an Olympic game. Buthaina Yaqoubi will compete in the women’s 100m sprint, as well as the long jump or the triple jump. Oman won its first gold medal in the Asian Games held in Beijing in 1990 by 400-meter runner Mohammed bin Amer Al Malky. Other athletes include shooter Dad Allah Al Balushi, and athletes Abdullah Al Sooli, and swimmer Mohammed Bin Nassib Al Habsi.

PALESTINE – 4 athletes. Made its Olympic debut in Atlanta. Palestine was so excited about the possibility of competing in the Olympics that a Palestinian Olympic Committee was one of the first things established after the late Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and Arafat signed a peace agreement on the White House lawn in October 1993. Even though the Palestinian Authority is not a state, its status as an independent territory makes it eligible for the Olympics.

Sent just two athletes to Atlanta and one of them competed. Majdi Abu Marahil, who had a full-time job in Force-17, Arafat’s secret service, finished last in the first round of the men’s 10,000m.

Sent two more athletes to Sydney - swimmer Samar Nassar and men’s 20m race walker Rami Deib Abdel Hami. The Athens delegation consisted of three athletes, including a female flag bearer: Sanaa Abu Bkheet, a 19-year-old 800m runner.

For years, Israel blocked any recognition of “Palestine” arguing it was not a sovereign nation, yet non-sovereign nations like Puerto Rico, for example, which is an American territory, have a tradition of participation.

QATAR – 22 athletes. Qatar boycotted the 1980 Games in Moscow. First competed in 1984. In 1992, Mohamed Sulaiman finished third in the 1500m to win Qatar’s first Olympic medal.

In Sydney, weightlifter Saeed Saif Asad (one of eight former Bulgarian weightlifters who Qatar bought for a reported $1 million) won bronze in the men’s 105kg/231 lbs division. He was formerly known as Angel Popov.

Many nations attract foreign athletes and give them citizenship, but Qatar is often singled out by the mainstream American media, which has an anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias, as having “bought” eight Bulgarian weightlifters prior to the 2000 Sydney games, resulting in one bronze medal. In 2004, several African runners applied for and received Qatari citizenship and competed. One of its best gold medal prospects would have been Saif Saaeed Shaheen, the 2003 world champion in steeplechase, a Kenyan who became a Qatari citizen two weeks before the 2003 World Championships. But Shaheen did not receive clearance from the Kenyan National Olympic Committee to run for Qatar in Athens.

Doha bid to host the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in 2016, but was eliminated in June 2008 as a result of a negative Western media campaign.

SAUDI ARABIA – 17 athletes. Debuted in 1972 and has since missed only the 1980 Moscow Games. Was the first country to announce it would boycott the 1980 Games in response to the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan; the declaration came two weeks before Jimmy Carter announced the U.S. boycott.

After sending just nine athletes to Barcelona, Saudi Arabia had a team of 35 competitors, all male, in Atlanta. Won its first Olympic medals at the 2000 Sydney Games. Hadi Souan Somayli won the country’s first medal, a silver, in the men’s 400m hurdles. Khaled Al Eid later won bronze in equestrian’s individual jumping competition. Did not win a medal in Athens.

Newscasters make a point of always saying its team is “all male.” Women are prohibited by Saudi Arabia’s government from participating, but many other nation’s also have teams that are also only all male.

SOMALIA – 2 athletes. Somalia has never won an Olympic medal. Boycotted the 1980 Games in Moscow. The country’s best hope in Atlanta, Abdi Bile, the 1987 world champion at 1500m, finished sixth in the final. Somalia sent two athletes to the Biejing Olympics, Samiyo Yusuf, a young teenaged woman who competes in the 800 meters race for women, and Abdinasir saeed, a young man in his early twenties who will compete in the 5000 meters race for men.

SUDAN – 9 athletes. Sudan has never won an Olympic medal since first competing in 1960. It first participated in a team sport at the 1972 Games, when the men’s soccer team qualified. Boycotted the 1980 Games in Moscow.

SYRIA – 7 athletes. Syria made its Olympic debut in 1948, sending a diver to the London Games. It first participated in a team sport at the 1980 Games, when the men’s soccer team competed in Moscow.

Syria has won two Olympic medals. The first was a silver earned by freestyle wrestler Joseph Atiyeh at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Atiyeh, a student at Louisiana State University at the time, was pinned by American Lou Banach in the final.

The second medal was by heptathlete Ghada Shouaa, Syria’s only female athlete in Atlanta. Shouaa won the gold medal in Atlanta - her country’s first Olympic title. First competed in 1948. From 1960 to 1968, competed with Egypt as the United Arab Republic, but it is believed that most of the athletes were Egyptian. Has never boycotted.

TUNISIA – 4 athletes. Has won six medals in the Olympics, four of them by distance runner Mohamed Gammoudi - in 1964, a silver in the 10,000m; in 1968, a gold in the 5000m and a bronze in the 10,000m; and in 1972, a silver in the 5000m. Gammoudi is in some select company. He is one of six men who have won multiple medals in both the 5000m and 10,000m, joining Flying Finns Paavo Nurmi, Ville Ritola and Lasse Viren, Sweden’s Edvin Wide, and Czechoslovakia’s Emil Zatopek.

Was one of two Arab nations and four African nations to participate in the Opening Ceremony of the 1976 Montreal Games and then join a 22-African-nation boycott of those Olympics. Boycotted in 1980. After failing to win a medal in Barcelona, Tunisia won a boxing bronze in light welterweight thanks to Fathi Missaoui. Its last Olympic medal came in 1996.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – 8 athletes. 1980, but did not compete in Moscow. Made its Olympic debut in 1984. In 2004 in Athens, shooter Ahmed Almaktoum won the nation’s first medal, a gold in men’s double trap. Maitha al Makthoum will compete in taekwondo, and Latifah al Makthoum will compete in show jumping (equestrian). Maitha is the daughter of Mohammed bin Rashid al Makthouhm ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the UAE and Latifah is a niece. NBC sports reporters said that both are al Makthoum’s daughters.

YEMEN – 5 athletes. Until 1990, Yemen was divided. Yemen made its Olympic debut as a unified country in Barcelona. South Yemen boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Games and made its first appearance in Seoul with six athletes. North Yemen made its debut by sending two athletes to Los Angeles in 1984 and it sent 11 athletes to Seoul, where one of them made headlines.

Abdallah Alizani, a Greco-Roman wrestler, was believed to become the first Arab athlete to follow through on the Arab policy of not participating in head-to-head competition with Israelis. Alizani failed to appear at his first-round match against Israel’s Dov Grobermann, who was awarded a victory by forfeit.

(Compiled by Ray Hanania from numerous broadcast and online sources. Contact Ray with any updates at www.TheMediaOasis.com and by email at rayhanania@comcast.net.)