Time to Take a Stand

Today was a good day in Olympic World.  The Olympic flame was lit in Ancient Olympia, officially beginning the torch relay that will conclude with the lighting of the cauldron at the conclusion of the Opening Ceremony on July 27.  Then we got the news that Qatar will be sending 100-meter sprinter Noor al-Malki to London.  Along with swimmer Nada Arkaji, al-Malki will be one of the first two Qatari women ever to compete in the Olympics.

For various (mainly political and cultural) reasons, Qatar is one of only three nations to have never sent a female athlete to the Olympics.  That was a problem.  Qatar's attempts to buy every major sporting event it can are very well-known.  The fact that they'd never sent a woman to the Olympics didn't make Qatar look very good in a lot of people's eyes, and if that hadn't changed in London, it would've all but killed Doha's chances of hosting the 2020 Games (which don't look that good in the first place).

The other two nations that have never sent a woman to the Olympics are Brunei and Saudi Arabia.  Brunei will also send a woman to London--Maziah Mahusin, who runs the 400 meters and 400 meter hurdles.  That leaves us with just Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has no plans of sending a woman to London.  And not for lack of qualified female athletes.  In fact, Dalma Rushdi Malhas won a bronze medal in equestrian show jumping at the 2010 Youth Olympics.  But it's not that simple.  Even though she competes in equestrian, the only sport where men compete against women on an even playing field and the uniform provides enough coverage to be considered "acceptable" under Islamic law, the Saudis don't seem that eager to send her to London.  Despite the IOC's attempts otherwise.  Prince Nawaf bin Faisal, the President of the Saudi Olympic Committee, is seemingly unaware of the fact that the year is 2012.  He's on record as saying he "does not approve" of sending female athletes to the Olympics.

It's no coincidence that Qatar, Brunei and Saudi Arabia are all Islamic countries.  Under Islamic law, women have subservient roles and need to keep their heads and faces covered in public.  In some Islamic countries, it's illegal for women to do such run-of-the-mill things as driving a car.  Participating in sports is, therefore, completely unacceptable.

Qatar and Brunei have at least gotten the message that this strict adherence to those Islamic laws is a view not shared by a majority of the rest of the world.  They've also realized that keeping women from participating in the Olympics was not the right thing to do.  And by allowing women to represent their country, Qatar and Brunei are making headlines for the right reasons.  It's a sign of progress.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said about Saudi Arabia.  Saudi Arabia's stance is stubborn and wrong.  Especially since there's an extremely qualified female Saudi athlete who's probably going to be left off the team for no reason other than her gender.  (It should also be noted that Malhas' bronze was Saudi Arabia's only medal at the 2010 Youth Olympics.)

Because of its stance banning female athletes just because, many people are calling on the IOC to take a stand and ban Saudi Arabia from sending a team to London.  I'm one of them.  South Africa was banned from the Olympics for more than 30 years because of aparthied, and, more recently, Afghanistan wasn't allowed to particpate in the Sydney Games because of the Taliban's policies.

The Saudi Olympic Committee's stance is wrong and needs to change.  If they don't do it on their own, the IOC needs to force Saudi Arabia to make that change.  The only way to do that is to send a message.  Saudi Arabia either needs to send women to London or shouldn't be allowed to send a team at all.