| Saudi Arabia at the Olympic Games | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London | ||||||||||||
| Competitors | (as of 31 December 2011) 9 in 2 sports | |||||||||||
| Medals | Gold 0 |
Silver 0 |
Bronze 0 |
Total 0 |
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| Olympic history (summary) | ||||||||||||
| Summer Games | ||||||||||||
| 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1996 • 2000 • 2004 • 2008 • 2012 | ||||||||||||
Saudi Arabia is expected to compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom.
In prior Games, Saudi Arabia had always sent exclusively male teams. Women's participation in sports is greatly restricted within the country, and Saudi Arabia does not permit women to compete in the Olympics.[1] In June 2010, the International Olympic Committee said it would "press" Saudi Arabia (along with Qatar and Brunei) to "send female athletes to the 2012 Olympic Games for the first time".[2] Anita DeFrantz, chair of the IOC's Women and Sports Commission, suggested that the country be barred from participating in the Olympics until it agrees to send women athletes to the Games. In July, Qatar announced that it would include women in its delegation to the 2012 Games, thus "increas[ing] pressure on Saudi Arabia" to do the same.[3] The BBC remarked that "London 2012 may therefore see Saudi women Olympians for the first time. If not, it is conceivable the Kingdom may not be allowed to enter an all-male team".[4]
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Saudi athletes have so far achieved qualifying standards in the following athletics events (up to a maximum of 3 athletes in each event at the 'A' Standard, and 1 at the 'B' Standard):[5][6]
Saudi Arabia has qualified a team.