Fri, Aug 13, 2004 page24

• Women athletes set to create own slice of history

  • AFP
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  They may not all be seeking to break records or win gold, but a host of female athletes from around the globe are set to create their own slice of history at the Athens Olympics.

  Robina Muqimyar and Friba Razayee, both 18, will become the first Afghan women to ever compete at the Olympics as their nation is welcomed back to the international fold for the first time since the fall of the Taliban regime.

  Razayee will compete in the 70kg judo event after becoming enthralled with the martial art while living in exile with her family in neighboring Pakistan during the reign of the hardline Taliban, which forbade women to play sport.

  After US-led forces toppled the Taliban regime in 2001, Razayee and her family returned home and she has since pursued her Olympic dream in what is still a very conservative Islamic environment.

  "I think sport is for everyone, not only men but also for women. As long as you have the skills, you can do it," she said.

  Headscarf

  Muqimyar, with a personal best of just over 15 seconds in the 100m sprint, is likely to become one of the Games' heroines as she competes against the world's best in tracksuit pants and a headscarf in deference to her Islamic religion.

  A beneficiary of an International Olympic Committee "wildcard" in which she did not have to post a qualifying time, Muqimyar is expected to run a full four seconds slower than her professional rivals.

  But after growing up under the Taliban, which also forced girls to abandon their schooling and stay at home, Muqimyar's Olympic victory will instead come from representing the hopes of women in her war-scarred nation.

  Similarly 100m sprinter Alaa Hekmat is Iraq's only female representative and has no genuine medal prospects with a personal best of 12.5 seconds.

  But the 18-year-old Baghdad resident's performance will undoubtedly divert the minds of many people in Iraq, if only for a few seconds, away from the violence and hatred that plague the country.

  Thirteen-year-old Pakistani Rubab Raza will also break new ground when she splashes her way through the 50m freestyle swimming event at Athens, becoming the first female swimmer from Pakistan to compete at the Olympics.

  Raza has managed to avoid an Islamic outcry that would have stopped her from competing on three counts -- her pledge to wear a full-length body suit, the fact she is still so young and the guidance of her family.

  "Whenever I go out of home or train at the swimming pool some family members or at least my grandmother remain with me," Raza, who has three national senior titles to her credit, said at her family's home in Lahore in June.

  Bahrain will continue to make history in Athens after swimmer Fatima Abdelmajid and 100m runner Myriam Al-Hili became the first two women from a Gulf nation to compete at an Olympics in Sydney four years ago.

  Bahrain's Olympic female contingent at Athens has grown to three, with 21-year-old sprinter Rakia Al-Gassra the nation's most promising prospect. She broke the 200m Asian record with a time of 23.91 seconds at the European Championships in Prague last month.

  With Bahrain setting the agenda for the Gulf states, 16-year-old Danah Al-Nasrallah will become Kuwait's first-ever female Olympian this year when she steps on to the track for the 100m.
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