JEDDAH, 26 February 2008 — The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has barred two of the six Saudi special needs athletics team from the Beijing Olympics in August after it discovered women athletes were not in the lineup for the Beijing Olympics in August despite a promise from Saudi Arabia during the 2004 Athens Olympics to include athletes from the distaff side.
The Saudi Olympic Committee is set to appeal against the decision penalizing the country for not fielding women athletes. Under the IOC rule 30 percent of athletes that qualified for the Olympics will be cut from the delegation if there are no women participating.
Saudi Arabia are entered in three events in Beijing namely equestrian (show jumping), athletics and special needs athletics.
Nassir Al-Saleh, secretary-general of the Saudi Federation for Special Needs, said it is true we have received the letter. However, “we are trying now to negotiate with the IOC to allow the two athletes that qualified to join their team in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. We really hope this matter would be solved without hurting the feelings of those with special needs.”
Saudi national team manager Sami Al-Dahammi denied receiving such a letter excluding any member of his team. “It would be really difficult to exclude especially that they are participating in a team event.”
Saudi Athletics Federation public relations man Mohammed Bernawi also was clueless about the same issue. He said six athletes already qualified for the Olympics and since the door is still open for others to qualify, “ we hope the number will reach 10.”
Meanwhile, credible sources told Arab News the IOC pressure to include the women athletes would be a great step toward having women in the Saudi delegation in such a huge sporting event.
The source said, “the inclusion of women does not mean they have to be athletes, they could be administrators, doctors…etc.”
“We really hope the IOC not exclude any of the athletes and in particular not the ones with special needs. There is always a solution for everything.”
