Medal record | ||
---|---|---|
Men's athletics | ||
Competitor for the United Arab Emirates |
||
Asian Championships | ||
Gold | 2009 Guangzhou | 200 m |
Asian Games | ||
Bronze | 2010 Guangzhou | 200 m |
Asian Indoor Games | ||
Bronze | 2009 Hanoi | 4×400 m relay |
Omar Jouma Al-Salfa, Arabic: عمر جمعة بلال السالفة, (born 15 October 1989) is a track and field athlete from the United Arab Emirates who competes in sprinting events. He was a gold medallist at the 2009 Asian Athletics Championships and represented his country at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
He made his first appearances at major competitions in 2007: he took the bronze medal over 200 metres at the Military World Games in October and then came fourth at the Pan Arab Games with a national record-breaking run of 20.94 seconds.[1][2] He turned to the indoor circuit at the start of the following season and came fourth at the 2008 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships with a national record of 6.81 seconds for the 60 metres.[3] He was selected for the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships and ran in the heats.
Outdoors he set a national junior record of 10.53 seconds to take the 100 metres title at that year's Arab Junior Championships that, and also went on to win the 200 m gold medal.[4] At the 2008 Asian Junior Athletics Championships he took the gold in the 200 m.[5] He reached the 200 m final at the 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics and gained a place on the Olympic team for the 2008 Summer Olympics, where he competed in the heats stage of the event.[2][6]
He improved his 200 m record to 20.72 seconds with a win at the Gulf Championships in May 2009. He competed at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics and reached the quarter-finals on his debut appearance at the competition. A fourth place finish over 60 m at the 2009 Asian Indoor Games (with a personal best of 6.72 seconds) was followed by a bronze medal with the Emirati team in the 4×400 metres relay.[2] Al-Salfa won his first major senior title at the 2009 Asian Athletics Championships, just dipping ahead of Shinji Takahira of Japan to win the Asian 200 m title.[7] In 2010 he made his first appearance on the IAAF Diamond League circuit running a wind-assisted 10.35 seconds in the 100 m at the Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix in Doha.[8] He claimed the 200 m bronze medal behind Nigerian-born Femi Ogunode and Japan's Kenji Fujimitsu at the 2010 Asian Games.[9]
Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2007 | Pan Arab Games | Cairo, Egypt | 4th | 200 m | 20.94 (NR) |
2008 | World Indoor Championships | Valencia, Spain | 28th (h) | 60 m | 6.88 |
World Junior Championships | Bydgoszcz, Poland | 7th | 200 m | 21.10 | |
Olympic Games | Beijing, China | 40th (h) | 200 m | 21.00 | |
2009 | Asian Indoor Games | Hanoi, Vietnam | 4th | 60 m | 6.72 (NR) |
World Championships | Berlin, Germany | 25th (qf) | 200 m | 20.97 | |
Asian Championships | Guangzhou, China | 1st | 200 m | 21.07 | |
2010 | Asian Games | Guangzhou, China | 3rd | 200 m | 20.83 |
2011 | Asian Championships | Kobe, Jpan | 3rd | 200 m | 20.97 |
World Championships | Daegu, South Korea | 48th (h) | 200 m | 21.45 | |
Pan Arab Games | Doha, Qatar | 5th | 100 m | 21.59 | |
3rd | 4x100 m | 40.15 |