page_title: Qatar at the 2012 Summer Olympics
section_title: Athletics
hierarchical_section_title: Qatar at the 2012 Summer Olympics / Athletics
caption_attribution_description: Qatari sprinter Noor Al Malki attends a Press conference in Doha. Picture by Vinod Divakaran
context_page_description: Qatar competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, which was held from 27 July to 12 August 2012. The country's participation at London marked its eighth appearance in the Summer Olympics since its début at the 1984 Summer Olympics. The delegation sent by the Qatar Olympic Committee consisted of twelve athletes in athletics, shooting, swimming and table tennis. The 2012 Games marked the first time Qatar sent female athletes to the Olympic Games; following the 2008 Summer Olympics, it had been one of only three countries, along with Saudi Arabia and Brunei, to never have done so.
  Seven of the twelve competitors automatically qualified for their respective events while the remaining five athletes used wild cards to partake in the Games. This was Qatar's most successful Olympics since the 2000 Sydney Games, winning a total of two Olympic medals. Skeet shooter Nasser Al-Attiyah, and high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim both won bronze medals in their respective sports for the first time.
context_section_description: 20-year-old Mohamed Al-Garni made his Olympic début at the London Games. Al-Garni qualified for the Games by meeting the qualification standards for the men's 1500 metres; his fastest time of three minutes and 34.61 seconds, set at the 2011 Pan Arab Games, was 0.89 seconds faster than the "A" qualifying standard. Al-Garni was drawn in the first heat on 3 August, finishing fifth out of fifteen runners with a time of three minutes and 36.99 seconds, and progressing into the semi-finals that took place two days later. There, he finished ninth in the second heat, achieving a time of three minutes and 36.78 seconds. Overall, he ranked 14th out of 45 athletes, and was 1.34 seconds slower than the slowest competitor from his heat to progress to the final.
  In his first Olympic Games, 17-year-old Hamza Driouch was the youngest Qatari male athlete in London. He qualified for the men's 1500 metres because his best time was three minutes and 33.69 seconds during the 2012 Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix, which was one second faster than the "A" qualifying standard. On 3 August, organisers drew Driouch to partake in the second heat, where he finished second out of fourteen finishers with a time of three minutes and 67 seconds; he automatically progressed into the semi-final. There, Driouch ran in heat one but his performance dropped and placed 11th out of 12th runners, with a time of three minutes and 49.40 seconds. That put him 24th overall, with only the top eight progressing into the final.
  17-year-old Noor Al-Malki was the first of two woman athletes announced to be competing on Qatar's behalf in February 2012. She received a wild-card invitation from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to compete at the Olympics after not meeting the qualifying standards of the women's 100 metres. Noor was the first Qatari woman to run in athletics at the Summer Olympics. In an interview with The Guardian before the Games she spoke of her surprise over being selected and she sought to promote women's sport in Qatar, "It was a shock, but it was also a source of immense happiness and pride. It is the dream of every athlete in Qatar, and I will be taking that with me." She was assigned with seven other runners to the third heat on 3 August. Out of the starting blocks, Noor pulled her right hamstring and fell onto the track. She was transported out of the stadium in a wheelchair by officials. Noor was listed as a non-finisher of the women's 100 metres.
  Musaeb Abdulrahman Balla also made his Olympic début at the 2012 Games at the age of 23. He earned automatic qualification for the men's 800 metres because his fastest time of one minute and 45.19 seconds, set at the 2012 Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix, was 0.41 seconds faster than the "A" qualifying standard for his event. Balla was drawn to run in the second heat of the first round on 6 August, coming second out of eight runners, with a time of one minute and 46.37 seconds. His effort was fast enough to advance him into the semi-finals that took place the day after. There, Balla participated in heat two, finishing seventh out of eight athletes, with a time of one minute and 47.52 seconds. This time put him 21st overall, but only the top eight continued on to the final.
  Making his Olympic début like the others, Mutaz Essa Barshim was 20 years old at the time of the London Games. His best mark of 2.35 metres, set at the 2011 Asian Athletics Championships in Kobe, was 0.04 metres over the "A" qualifying standard to automatically qualify in the men's high jump. Barshim was drawn to compete in Qualifying Group A on 5 August. His best height cleared was 2.26 metres on his second try, tying him for eighth in Qualifying Group A. Barshim's result advanced him to compete for a top 12 placing in the 7 August final. Six athletes, including Barshim, all tied for a mark of 2.29 metres after missing the 2.33 metres mark, and the final result of the high jump was decided by a count-back with the fewest failed jumps factored into the final result. Barshim thus tied for the bronze medal with Robbie Grabarz of G
caption: Noor Al-Malki was the first Qatari woman to compete in athletics competition at the Olympics but she pulled her right hamstring at the start of the third heat in the women's 100 metres.
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