JEDDAH, 19 April 2005 — After winning the gold medal in the long jump in a new Asian record of 8.44 meters Muhammad Suleiman Al-Khuwaildi has become the latest addition to the stable of elite Saudi athletes.
He is among the promising ones on the athletics team that won overall victory in the Solidarity Games.
Al-Khuwaildi was 15 when he began hanging out at Al-Safa Club with neighborhood friends. He found himself attracted to athletics more than the other sport, like, say football.
What began as ‘just for fun’ kind of thing developed into something more serious to the point that he has been putting in long hours of practice in the sport of athletics.
Al-Khuwaildi’s love of and passion for athletics have reached a level that he wanted to become a professional athlete in the sport.
He first tried to specialize in 110 meters but pretty soon he was heavily into long jumping.
Al-Khuwaildi said: “I participated in Gulf Championship and I achieved a new youth record of 7.55 meters. It was a very positive result and a good start. I worked very hard to develop myself and to take the opportunity of training under international coaches with proven capabilities.”
He added: “In 2002, I achieved a gold and silver medal on the Gulf level. As for the Asian level, I was able to achieve the gold medal in indoor competition and a new record. I was not able to participate at the Olympics but it is my dream to participate in it and achieve the gold medal. My main dream is to watch my flag go up high. Thank God that with the record jump I made in the 1st Islamic Solidarity Games I shall be able to qualify and participate in the next Olympic Games.”
Of the games Al-Khuwaildi said: “We camped for 40 days in preparation for the first Islamic games. We benefited a lot from the Romanian coach Pedro. We stayed for one week in Jeddah before going to Makkah for the games proper. We did not care who would take the gold medal. Our main concern was to honor Saudi Arabia and achieve better results. I expected that my colleague Ahmad Fayez would achieve the gold medal but he could not. Personally, I consider him a winner too because this gold medal belongs to all of us. The future of the sport is bright in Saudi Arabia.”
