JEDDAH, 7 December 2007 — Saudi Arabia sent their largest-ever delegation in the history of the Pan-Arab Games at 600 athletes and 76 officials yet the country failed to break double digit in the number of gold medals won.
As the Kingdom contingent returned from the 11th edition of the multisports games in Egypt with 8 gold medals, 18 silvers and 18 bronzes a reality check hammers home the fact that sheer size does not guarantee better results.
The Saudi sports brass had nurtured high hopes of bringing home a chock-full of golds to surpass their Asian Games haul. The athletes could only match the Asiad tally of 8 golds.
What really went wrong? Were the preparations not enough? Were the priorities misplaced? Questions such as these invariably crop up every time a Saudi contingent burdened with the nation’s high expectations returned from an international competition.
That these games showcased the Arab world’s athletic talent gave Saudi Arabia an even more compelling reason to excel and match the best their Arab brethren have to offer.
As it turned out though there is a lot of work to do for Saudi Arabia to bridge the yawning gap on the sporting powers in the region. Consider this: hosts Egypt topped the medals tally with 148 golds, 100 silvers, 89 bronzes and 337 total, Tunisia followed with 64-33-49-145 and Algeria rounded out the top three with 30-43-51-124.
Saudi Arabia came away with a total of 45 medals (8-18-18) to place seventh among the 32 countries that participated in the 15-day quadrennial meet that spread out competitions in seven cities in Egypt.
Twenty-seven national teams including the ones with special needs carried the Saudi banner. Some have had successes, while the rest just either avoided a medal shutout or ended up a total failure.
Football, almost to a man the only sport that matters and enjoys unlimited financial support from the government though it counts for only one medal at the games, was lucky not to be shut out of the medals.
Underestimating a field that was hit by withdrawals and deemed weak in the absence of the other countries’ first teams, the Kingdom got the bronze after getting beat by Egypt 2-1 in the final match.
Saudi swimming star Ahmed Al-Kudmani was looking to retire in style with a gold medal in Egypt. Instead, he had a narrow miss with a silver in the men’s 50m breaststroke.
A bronze from Yousif Al-Yousif in the men’s 200m backstroke summed up the measly contribution from swimming whose federation had launched an ambitious program to try and win the first Olympic medal for Saudi Arabia at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London.
Weightlifting was a rich source of medals for the Kingdom during the 2005 Islamic Solidarity Games in Jeddah but failed to land a gold this time though it brought home three silvers and three bronzes. A revelation in the last Asian Games with a bronze medal the national volleyball team entered the Pan-Arab event brimming with confidence only to be among the first teams to return home without a medal.
Also, bowling came up short of expectations with a lone bronze to show courtesy of brothers Bader and Hasan Al-Sheikh and Ahmed Al-Hithayyan in the men’s trio event. Tennis, handball and tae kwon do each had a bronze to avoid the shutout, while the Saudi boxers returned two bronze medals courtesy of featherweight Alaa Ben Hassam Al-Sahli and Rashidi Said.
Gymnastics, wrestling and cycling all returned to the country empty-handed but the basketball national team were worse. Without two of their best players namely Ali Al-Maghrabi and Yassar Mokhtar the team lost all their games.
The Kingdom, however, managed a silver medal in water polo and two silvers in table tennis to make up for the basketball debacle. A silver each came from the men’s team epee event in fencing and the men’s individual 70 meters event in archery compliments of Majed Yousif.
While the majority of the athletes had the benefit of proper training overseas others complained their inability to secure leaves from work and school prevented them from pursuing further training. The result is that their performances were affected.
Thanks mainly to the athletics team there were moments to savor for the Saudi delegation in the Pan Arab conclave.
In winning four golds the track and field stars again accounted for half of the total gold medal output in a repeat of the feat they achieved in the Doha Asian Games last year. With a further 8 silvers and 4 bronzes for a total of 16 medals the athletics team were a smashing success in terms of contribution by a national sports association.
Prince Abdullah ibn Miteb clinched the individual show jumping gold medal and along with teammates Prince Faisal Al-Shallan, Abdullah Al-Sharbatly and Ramzi Al-Duhami claimed the team gold in the event for the national equestrian team, who drew inspiration and guidance Sdyney Olympics silver medalist Khaled Al-Eid.
Judoka Eissa Magrashi and shooter Eissa Saeed Al-Mutairi were Saudi’s other individual gold medalists. Magrashi won the men’s 60kg class and Al-Mutairi the men’s shotgun skeet event that made him realize his dream of becoming an Arab champion.
Mohammad Al-Khuwaildi set a new games record of 8.19 meters to emerge champion of the long jump and head a 1-2 finish for Saudi Arabia as teammate Hussain Al-Sabba won the silver medal. Al-Khuwaildi’s effort broke the old record of 8.11 set in 1997 by Younes Moudrik from Morocco.
The Saudis, coached by former world and Olympic champion Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago, swept the relays with Sultan Al-Dawoudi grabbing the discus throw gold medal.
Mohammed Al-Matroud cashed in on the chance, too. Back in shape after being injured Al-Matroud landed the bronze in the decathlon event. The load of pressure took its toll on the athletes on the last day of the athletics competition specially those who had entered in two events or competed for two straight days, not to mention various championships before the event. “It was not easy but its worth it and we are glad we did our best,” Al-Matroud said.
The games were woefully short of expectations in the area of organization as the media persons experienced all sorts of problems in the performance of their jobs. On the whole, however, the event succeeded in its purpose — foster Arab unity and camaraderie.
