JEDDAH, 24 April 2008 — Saudi Arabia’s athletics team in the relays are ready to take on the Olympic challenge in Beijing, according to hurdler Hamdan Al-Beshi.
Hamdan, who runs the 400 meters hurdles in addition to being part of the country’s strong relay team, said the team had been in training in preparation for the 2008 Olympics since December 2007 and that the preparation phase has ended.
“The long training camps may be hard true, yet our country deserves it and it is all worth it,” said Hamdan in a telephone interview from Los Angeles, where he and the rest of the team are currently based.
They entered training camp in Los Angeles, United States after a short break back home at the end of their overseas campaign in the 11th Pan Arab Games in Egypt where they swept the golds in both the 4X100 and 4X400 relays with clockings of 39.99 seconds and 3 minutes and 04.74 seconds.
Except for Hamed Al-Beshi who joined the team two weeks after getting married recently the rest made the December trip to the US for training camp. They were Hamdan, Ismael Al-Sibyani, Moussa Hawsawi, Yahya Gahis, Salim Al-Yami and Yahya Habeeb.
Hamdan said they train daily except Saturdays and Sundays. They do the weights from 9 to 10 a.m. and then rest for an hour. After that they train in the track from 10 to 12 noon under the supervision of coach John Smith and other American and British athletes.
“It is simply the best environment for athletes to train and follow a healthy eating and sleeping habits,” he said.
While in Los Angeles the team participated in Texas Relays and placed fifth in the 4x100 and sixth in the 4x400.
Hamdan said the reasons behind these modest finishes were “ it was our first competition since last November and we were competing with the best of the world champions.”
Mohammed Al-Salaihi, an 800 meters specialist, flew from Morocco to Los Angeles to briefly train with Hamdan and his group, then went back to Morocco where he continues to train with national coach Saad Shaddad. After they joined a competition on Sunday, the team now look forward to another one to be held in Philadelphia on April 27 where they expect to be tested and give their best because it is one of qualifying events for the Olympics.
The captain of the Saudi national athletics team, Hamdan said he appreciated Prince Nawaf ibn Mohammed, president of the Saudi Athletics Federation for Amateurs, for being there to lend moral support during all their competitions.
“We do not fear any other teams, however hope we could make it there without any injuries and do our best to meet the best champions in the world and achieve honorable results,” said Hamdan.
The team will fly to Europe in July and from there proceed to Beijing a few days before the event kicks off.
Meanwhile, Hussan Al-Saba joined Mohammed Al-Khuwalidi as the Saudi long jumpers to compete in Beijing. Al-Saba reached the Olympic qualifying standard at a competiton in Riyadh where he leapt a distance of 8.31 meters. Khuwalidi did 8.37 meters in the same competition, and their results put them at the top of the IAAF
(International Association of Athletics Federations) world rankings.
“I am pleased especially because during the past two seasons I was not able to secure this number. Yet I am also determined to score even better and to give our best both Al-Khuwaildi and me in Beijing,” he said over the phone from the Eastern Province.
