JEDDAH: Athletics never fails to attract a huge number of fans, especially since it features fast-moving events.
In the forthcoming Beijing Olympics Saudi Arabia are seeing action in the blue-riband track and field competition. To carry the Kingdom colors are the 12-man team that will be finalized on July 23.
In addition to Mohammed Al-Khuwalidi, the leading Saudi long jumper with world class credentials who jumped 8.37 meters in Riyadh in April this year, there is Hussain Al-Saba who has jumped 8.31 meters.
Of the athletes who thus far made the grade for Beijing, Al-Khuwalidi and Al-Saba are the Saudi athletics team’s best bets for an Olympic medal.
Yehya Habeeb, the fastest man in Asia in 2006, will compete in the 100 meters race. He clocked 10.28 seconds in the event in Doha in April 2007. After finishing the 800-meter race in Algeria in June 2007, Mohammed Al-Salhi qualified for the Olympics. Sultan Al-Dawoudi also qualified after throwing the discus over a distance of 63.07 meters in July 2007. Sultan Al-Hibshi, meanwhile, qualified by throwing the hammer 20.61 meters in Danisco in July last year. Ali Al-Amri also qualified in the 3,000 meters steeplechase after clocking 8:23.61 seconds in Osaka.
After finishing the 1,500 meters race in 3 mintues an 3.90 seconds in Doha in May this year, Mohammed Shaween was fortunate to join the squad. So did Mokhallad Al-Otaibi, who qualified to compete in the 5,000 meters with a time of 13:12.78 in Ostrava last month.
The leading 4X400 meters relay team in the Arab and Asia level luckily managed to meet the Olympic standard with a clocking of 3:02.08 in Tunisia in June. The team consisted of Mohammed Al-Salhi, Moussa Al-Masrahi, Ismael Al-Sibyani and Hamid Al-Beshi.
All the athletes qualified for group A, except for Habeeb and Al-Dawoudi, who qualified for group B.
It was a little hard to interview the athletes, as they are training in different countries. Some, like Al-Saba, preferred not to speak to the media and rather focus on training. However, Al-Khuwalidi, who is 27, was willing to speak over the phone from Germany.
“Aramco, where I work, gave me 90 days to train. However, this ends before the Olympics. If the royal decree comes, then I’ll be able to participate, if not I’ll have to take two weeks without salary to compete…Now I feel much better, more relaxed and focused on training and nothing but training,” he said.
Al-Khuwalidi participated in the Meeting Lille Metropole in France on June 27. He won with an effort of 8.23 meters. Meanwhile, Al-Saba advanced at the Bislett Games, which was held in Oslo on June 6. Al-Khuwalidi said participating at these events gave him a taste of competition in the coming Olympics, especially since most of the athletes who attended these events would also be participating in the Olympics. “Hopefully we would be there to benefit and compete,” he said.
Al-Khuwalidi managed to qualify for the 2004 Olympics but failed to compete due to injury just two weeks before the championship.
“This is my second time, and it might be the last one if I decided to resign after two years or so. I’ll keep that thought for later but now all I care about is this Olympics,” he said.
He added that it is comforting for him to know that Al-Sabaa and Ahmed Faiz would be joining him in the Saudi team.
Al-Salhi, 22, will be competing in both the 800 meters race and 4X400 relay. “There are many highly qualified athletes but luck plays a big role next to skills. Luck sometimes is on our side, and sometimes it’s on the side of others. Let us wish it is on our side,” he said. Al-Salhi, who will be participating in the Olympics for the second time after the Athens Olympics, added that he hopes to be a tough competitor and hard to beat as he has been training for four years in Morocco with coach Saad Shaddad, who bought Saudi Arabia its first bronze in the 1998 World Cup in South Africa in the 3,000 meters steeplechase.
Al-Salhi latest timing was 1:44.83 seconds in Oslo (Bislett) in June this year, a timing that placed him fourth among world competitors in the 800 meters race.
However, his best timing was achieved in 2006 in Rome when he clocked 1:43.99 seconds. Al-Salhi was also in the 4X400 relay team, which won the gold in the 11th Pan Arab Games held in Egypt in 2007. Although he will be the only one competing in two races, Al-Sahli said he would be focusing on the 800 meters more because the chances of winning a medal is higher. In addition, he said, by the time the 4X400 kicks off he would be ready too because its not all held in one day and it would be exciting to be strengthened with his teammates.
