Article wrote by Simon Bardet for FrancetvInfo – JO de Paris 2024 : Kariman Abuljadayel, symbole d’émancipation pour les femmes saoudiennes, bien décidée à marquer l’histoire des Jeux (francetvinfo.fr)
The first Saudi woman to compete in the 100 m at the Games, Kariman Abuljadayel is a leading figure in women’s emancipation in the kingdom. And she has no intention of stopping there.
The image went viral. On the afternoon of 12 August 2016, Kariman Abuljadayel, wearing a black hijab that is now on display at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, finished her 100 m at the Rio Olympic Games. The time was modest (14‘’61), the ranking (7th in the preliminary round) not enough to go further in the competition, but the important thing was elsewhere for the athlete who, on that occasion, became the first Saudi woman in history to take part in an Olympic sprint.
“I’ve always loved the Games,” she says. I’ve always watched them on television. But when I was little, I never thought I’d take part, because we weren’t allowed to.” In Paris, she will be in the stands cheering on the Saudi delegation.
It was only in 2012, at the London Olympics, that Saudi women were allowed to take part in this global celebration, following persistent requests to the kingdom by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). “I remember this news very well,” recalls Kariman, “because my mum asked me to come into the living room when the announcement was being broadcast on television. She said to me: ‘I hope you’re next. I could finally take part in the Olympics and fulfil a dream.” Judoka Wodjan Shaherkani and athlete Sarah Attar paved the way, and Kariman Abuljadayel followed their path four years later, right on the line at Brazil’s Olympic stadium.
A family passion and home training
The thirty-something’s Olympic destiny was not to be taken for granted, in a country where “sport was not on the school curriculum for girls”, at a time when she was battling obesity as a 6-7 year old “who loved to eat” and weighed over 70 kg. “My mother – who strongly believes in the benefits of sport and the values it promotes – saw that I really liked it and encouraged me to do it more often, she recalls. I’ve been practising sport a lot since I was 6, because I love it, and it’s what’s helped me lose weight year after year.”
In this sporty family, where the father, a horse owner, was a leading figure in the equestrian world, it was necessary to innovate in order to practise. “I had to do sport at home with my brothers and sisters, with my cousins when they were there, or when we were travelling abroad. Those were my only options at the time,” explains Kariman, who has found perfect sporting partners in her sisters Nabila (a golfer) and Salwa (a fencer). And when the heat was suffocating outside, there was no excuse: “I used to run a lot inside the house. My mum let me do that freely, and this passion developed.”
No gold rush, but an Eldorado
The beginnings of a sporting career, which gained momentum when Kariman Abuljadayel left for the United States. She headed for Boston and Northeastern University to study architecture. “I passed the tests and joined the athletics team. The journey really started there, it was the beginning of the path towards this Olympic dream, she says, because just a few months earlier, the Saudi Olympic Committee had started to authorise women to compete in the Games.
Four years of training later, Kariman Abuljadayel’s American dream has been replaced by Eldorado, almost 8,000 km further south. “I have a lot of great memories of Rio. The opening ceremony at the Maracana was incredible, I felt like there were millions of spectators in the stadium, she enthuses. When Saudi Arabia was called up and I saw my image on the giant screens, it was an unspeakable feeling. I was finally an Olympian!” Nervous before the start of her 100m race, but very happy at the finish some 14 seconds later, the Saudi sprinter enjoyed this moment in history, surrounded by her family and friends.
Kariman Abuljadayel got caught up in the Games, and entered another dimension. “This race has changed my life, she admits. Being an Olympian is a responsibility. I’ve become an ambassador for my country and for sport. I am the first Saudi female sprinter to take part in the Olympic Games. There were no women before me, so I have to pave the way for those who will come next.”
Quote: I’m happy that I’ve set a precedent for other girls. Today, Saudi girls are confident that they can do it, because I did it. It’s very important for future generations.
Once the example had been set and the image engraved in the memories of an entire country, Kariman Abuljadayel would not stop there. And she is taking advantage of the change in Saudi Arabia’s policy on women, since Mohammed Ben Salman – notably accused of having ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi – became crown prince in 2017. Allowed to drive and go to the stadium, encouraged to work, women are also now freer to practice sport, with a view to raising the kingdom’s international profile.
“Today, there are so many opportunities for women who want to practice a sport. They can start at a very young age, and I would have loved to have this opportunity. Opening up sport to women in Saudi Arabia has been a huge and brilliant change,” she says with satisfaction.
Quote: All the coaches are saying it: figures don’t lie. When I started running, I was the only one. There was no team, I was the team. Since then, the figures have been rising steadily and thousands of women are now practising athletics in the country.
“And it’s the same in other sports, she continues. The number of sports federations has doubled in just a few years. After the Rio Games, I started rowing. There was no federation in Saudi Arabia.”
After athletics, the young architect embarked on a new discipline, setting the world record for the 10km in sea rowing, and – while taking advantage of the country’s beaches as a training ground – keeps ‘beach rowing, which will be at the Games for the first time in Los Angeles in 2028’ in the back of her mind. Derived from sea rowing, beach rowing involves a sprint race on the beach and a rowing slalom in the water.
From Saudi beaches to Scandinavian snow
Kariman Abuljadayel is hoping to rediscover Olympic sensations in California… and perhaps elsewhere. Although she doesn’t “want to talk too much about it for the moment, so that people don’t ask her too many questions, the Riyadh-born athlete is nonetheless unveiling another project. She has been taking part in a series of cross-country skiing courses, notably in Scandinavia, in the hope of becoming the first Saudi woman to take part in the Winter Olympics. To inspire the country’s youth even more.
Quote: It’s very important to pass on the relay to the next generation. That’s how we create champions. It hasn’t always been easy, but it’s great to be able to inspire other women.
Saudi Arabia is well aware that sport can be a powerful tool on the international stage. Last November, the kingdom hosted a Peace and Sport Forum on gender equity and the empowerment of young people, proof of the change that is beginning to happen. And it is counting on its female pioneers to set an example.
“We’re working hard. I’ve been in sport for over ten years and I see all these opportunities for women. It takes time, but we’re on the right path. Big changes are coming and I’m happy to be living these moments, happy to still be an athlete because it’s a great experience, she says. Kariman Abuljadayel will be a good adviser if Saudi Arabia organises future Olympic Games, the ‘ultimate goal’ of the Minister of Sport, Abdelaziz ben Turki al-Faisal. In Paris, she will be in the stands cheering on her heirs in the Saudi delegation.