Up until the 2012 Olympic Games in London, only three countries - Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Brunei - had never sent female athletes to the Olympics. These games mark the first time all competing nations have sent female athletes and it did not take long for two of the four female athletes of Qatar to make Olympic history. Both Aia Mohamed and Bahya Mansour al-Hamad competed on Day 1 of the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games!
20-year-old Bahya Mansour al-Hamad competed in the Women's 10m Air Rifle preliminaries on July 28th, finishing with a score of 395. Unfortunately she did not qualify for the finals held later that day, as the lowest qualification score was 397. The highest was 399. She ended up finishing 17th out of 56 athletes and is set to compete again on August 4th in the Women's 50m Air Rifle 3 positions.
17-year-old Aia Mohamed also competed on Day 1 in the preliminary round of Women's Singles Table Tennis but ended up being eliminated from competition 4 games to 0 by Canadian Mo Zhang.
Qatar has two more female athletes on their 2012 Olympic team. They are 17-year-old swimmer Nada Mohammed Arakaji, who will be competing in the 50m freestyle on August 3rd, and 17-year-old Noor Hussain al-Malki, who will be running the100m sprint, also on August 3rd.
It will not be until August 3rd that we get to see the athletes from Saudi Arabia and Brunei compete.
Brunei has sent one female athlete. 19-year-old Maziah Mahusin is scheduled to run the 400m sprint on August 3rd.
Saudi Arabia has sent two female athletes. 17-year-old Sarah Attar is scheduled to run the 800m sprint on August 8th and 16-year-old Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani is scheduled to compete in Women's +78kg Judo on August 3rd although she is awaiting a ruling regarding her hijab. Saudi Arabia has sent their female athletes to the games with strict rules to follow, one of which states they must wear a headscarf during competition. The president of the International Judo Federation, Marius Vizer, has informed Saudi Arabia that she will not be allowed to wear her hijab during competition due to safety concerns.
