Shazia Hidayat, a Catholic woman, was the only female athlete on the Pakistan team competing at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
She was born on April 4, 1976 in Chichawatni, Punjab, Pakistan.
Hidayat, a middle- and long-distance runner from a village 360 kilometers south of Islamabad, had to overcome huge obstacles to compete internationally. The main objection being raised was how a Pakistani woman could race in a competition in which other women do not wear clothes that cover their body.
She realized that if she qualified, she would have to wear a jogging suit while others wore shorts. Girls in Pakistan, when allowed to take part in sports, must wear such suits.[1]
In the Women's 1,500 metres in 2005 her Personal Best time was 4:58.79.
She participated in athletics in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, becoming the second woman to ever represent Pakistan in an Olympic event.[2]
In 2011 Hidayat, also competed in the Knights of Columbus Indoor Games in Saskatoon, Canada. She lives in Saskatoon, having moved here from Pakistan. Her parents, especially her father, encouraged her to run, but in the predominately Muslim country she had to train in, it had to be done at 2:30 in the morning with a brother biking to pace her, because female athletes were not allowed to run on the road. She describes running qualifying races in the daytime in her home country where spectators were lining the sidelines not to cheer, but to throw rocks and tomatoes at her. Eventually because of threats to her safety and the lack of security in training and racing facilities, she relocated to Canada.
She currently works at the University of Saskatchewan, takes classes to further improve her English, and trains in the afternoons. She hopes to coach other female runners in the future.[3]