In the first Olympics in which a woman from Qatar will participate, the Qatari Olympic Committee announced air rifle shooter Bahiya al-Hamad will carry the country's flag in the opening ceremony in London.
Al-Hamad is one of four women to qualify for participation in the Olympics from Qatar; her compatriots include swimmer Nada Mohammed Wafa Arakji, sprinter Noor al-Maliki, and table tennis player Aya Majdi.
The announcement comes the day Saudi faced intense international pressure for its all-male delegation to the Olympics. The Kingdom announced it would allow any women who qualified to participate, but not one woman from the entire Kingdom qualified. Discriminatory policies undoubtedly contributed to this.
Another PR coup for Qatar at the expense of its larger, more conservative neighbor. It is difficult not to compare the treatment of women between the two Wahhabi countries.
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| Bahiya al-Hamad is awesome. |
Al-Hamad is one of four women to qualify for participation in the Olympics from Qatar; her compatriots include swimmer Nada Mohammed Wafa Arakji, sprinter Noor al-Maliki, and table tennis player Aya Majdi.
The announcement comes the day Saudi faced intense international pressure for its all-male delegation to the Olympics. The Kingdom announced it would allow any women who qualified to participate, but not one woman from the entire Kingdom qualified. Discriminatory policies undoubtedly contributed to this.
Another PR coup for Qatar at the expense of its larger, more conservative neighbor. It is difficult not to compare the treatment of women between the two Wahhabi countries.
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