page_title: Saudi Arabia at the Olympics
section_title: Women's participation in the Olympics
hierarchical_section_title: Saudi Arabia at the Olympics / Women's participation in the Olympics
caption_attribution_description: Saudi Arabian judoka, Wojdan Shaherkani at the 2012 London Olympics
context_page_description: Saudi Arabia has competed in ten Summer Olympic Games. They first appeared in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. They have never competed in the Winter Olympic Games.
context_section_description: By Saudi Arabian law, women were, until recently, not permitted to compete in the Olympic Games. However, following the International Olympic Committee pressuring the Saudi Olympic Committee to send female athletes to the 2012 Summer Olympics, in June 2012 the Saudi Embassy in London announced this had been agreed.
  There were calls for Saudi Arabia to be barred from the Olympics until it permitted women to compete—notably from Anita DeFrantz, chair of the International Olympic Committee's Women and Sports Commission, in 2010. In 2008, Ali Al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, likewise called for Saudi Arabia to be barred from the Games, describing its ban on women athletes as a violation of the International Olympic Committee charter. Stating that gender discrimination should be no more acceptable than racial discrimination, he noted: "For the last 15 years, many international nongovernmental organizations worldwide have been trying to lobby the IOC for better enforcement of its own laws banning gender discrimination. [...] While [its] efforts did result in increasing numbers of women Olympians, the IOC has been reluctant to take a strong position and threaten the discriminating countries with suspension or expulsion."
  Dalma Rushdi Malhas competed at the 2010 Singapore Youth Olympics and won a bronze medal in equestrian (see Saudi Arabia at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics).
  Saudi Arabia agreed on July 12, 2012, to send two women to compete in the 2012 Olympic games in London, England. The two female athletes were Wojdan Shaherkani in judo and 800-meter runner Sarah Attar.  Prior to June 2012, Saudi Arabia banned female athletes from competing at the Olympics.
caption: Wojdan Shaherkani, first female competitor from Saudi Arabia to compete at any Olympics in any event, at the 2012 Summer Olympics, in Judo
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