12 Jul 2012
The ultraconservative Muslim nation Saudi Arabia has agreed to send two female athletes to the London 2012 Olympics following extensive negotiations with the International Olympic Committee.The agreement, which will involve the two highest-ranked female Saudi competitors, Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani in judo and 800m runner Sarah Attar, ensures that every one of the 204 nations competing at London 2012 will have female representation.
The London Olympics will be the first Games that every nation has included female athletes, and it will be the first time women can participate in every one of the 26 sports on the programme following the inclusion of women's boxing.
IOC president Jacques Rogge said Qatar, a country that had never sent a female to the Games before, was not only including several women in its team but honouring one of them to be a flag-bearer at the opening ceremony.
"We are very pleased of course," said Dr Rogge, who added the IOC would help to develop women's sport in Saudi Arabia through its Olympic Solidarity programme, which sponsors and financially assists athletes in developing countries.
"This is very positive news and we will be delighted to welcome these two athletes in London in a few weeks' time"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."
The issue of Saudi Arabia sending women has been a topsy-turvy topic for the past year and as late as two days' ago a report in a Saudi-owned newspaper said no female athletes have qualified for the Olympics and no women would be included on the team.
The IOC also sponsors a handful of Syrian athletes through the Olympic Solidarity programme and those athletes will participate in the Games.
Dr Rogge added that he had not been officially notified that the Syrian National Olympic Committee president General Mowaffak Joumaa had been banned from entering the UK by government officials.
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