Sarah Attar

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Sarah Attar at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio

Sarah Attar ( Arabic سارة عطار, DMG Sāra ʿAṭṭār ; * August 27, 1992 in Escondido , USA ) is a Saudi Arabian athlete in the middle and long distance . Alongside Wojdan Shaherkani , she was the first female participant in her country's Olympic Games at the 2012 Summer Olympics .

biography

Sarah Attar was born in the United States and grew up there. Her mother is American and her father is from Saudi Arabia. In addition to being a Saudi citizen, she also has US citizenship. Since 2012 she has been studying art at Pepperdine University in Malibu as holder of the Rex Hamilton Memorial Art Scholarship .

In 2012, Attar and judoka Wojdan Shaherkani were appointed to the Olympic team of Saudi Arabia, which, apart from Brunei and Qatar, never allowed female athletes to participate until these games. At the urging of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which for the first time wanted to see women represented in all participating nations, women were found abroad with the two young athletes who could represent the country. They had to run behind their male fellow athletes as the athletes marched in during the opening ceremony, which was also not the practice of other nations. When they were appointed, both benefited from wild cards issued by the IOC because they would not have made it through a regular qualification. Attar does not make any advance payments in international competitions. Attar's first mission on August 8th, which she denied almost all over her body, was, as expected, the last. Attar retired in her preliminary run with a large gap to all other runners. With her time of 2: 44.95 min she was almost three quarters of a minute behind the winner of the preliminary run, Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei from Kenya and almost 49 seconds behind the winner Marija Sawinowa in the final. Only Merve Aydin from Turkey ran an even worse time in the games with 3: 24.35 minutes. The athlete, who had already been actively involved in athletics in her school days, missed her best time of 2:40 minutes.

As one of the first two representatives at the Olympic Games in Saudi Arabia, Attar received wide public attention. She had to answer various journalists' questions, and she also benefited from her open and self-confident manner. Indirectly, she complained about the lack of opportunities for young girls to do sports in a time of development when the foundations for later success are laid, however also more general issues like prohibiting women from driving cars. On the other hand, she also saw a positive development that can be seen in her calling and that of Shaherkani.

Four years later at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro , Attar started in the marathon.

Web links

Commons : Sarah Attar  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ↑ What a woman's game of all time!
  2. Results of the women's 800 m race in 2012
  3. Women of all countries
  4. Attar is Saudi Arabia's first female athlete ( memento of the original from December 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.welt.de