Official country name: State of Qatar
Area: 4,416 sq miles (11,437 sq km)
Population: 907,000 (2007 est.); Qatar-born Arabs are the minority, with just a quarter of the country’s population qualifying as citizens
Median age: 32
Ethnic Groups: Arab 40%, Indian or Pakistani 36%, Iranian 10%, other 14%
GDP and GDP per capita: $53 billion and $62,000 (2006 estimates)
Read a complete country profile of Qatar
Qatar’s Olympic History
First time represented at Summer Olympics: 1984
Gold medals won: 0
Silver: 0
Bronze: 2
Athletes at the Beijing Olympics: 22
Number of Sports competing in at Beijing Olympics: 7
Medals at 2008 Beijing Olympics: 0
Qatar’s Olympic Playbook
Qatar is not just about Al-Jazeera. This is the small, ambitious country (and member of the Gulf Cooperation Council , the Arab world’s version of the European Union) that’s building a $5 billion airport, that unveiled a $15 billion plan, for years ago, to build top hotels, museums and theme parks, and to make itself viable as a host of—what else, the Olympic Games in 2016. Qatar is one of the bidders. To prove its mettle, the tiny country hosted the 15th Asian Games in 2005,which featured 45 nations in 423 events. It’s a small country that aims high, like its athletes.
At the World Championships in Osaka, Japan, Qatar’s marathoner Mubarak Hassan Shami came in second after Kenya’s Luke Kibet, and won silver. He’s one of the favorites in Beijing, and may give Qatar its third Olympic medal. Runner Mohamed Sulaiman won bronze in the 1500m (time: 3:40.69) in Barcelona in 1992, and Said S Asaad lifted 420 kg at the Sydney Games in 2000 to win bronze in the heavyweight division.
For the Beijing Games, Qatar is sending 22 athletes in seven sports, including 15 in track & field. Unlike Kuwait , which seems scarcely interested in its Olympians, Qatar is splashing their stories and hopes, and its own all over the place, beginning with a lavish presence on the Web by Qatar’s Olympic Committee . Qatar’s “vision”> “To become a leading nation in bringing the world together through sport.” A vision right ion line with that of its maverick emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani , who loves to dabble in international conflict resolution.
The site, unique among countries of the Middle East, devotes a brief athletic profile with pictures to each one of its athletes. Osama Mohammed Al Araj, for example, started his swimming career when he was six years old at beach club before he was discovered by Qatar’s Swimming Federation. Rashid Salih al-Athba is the youngest but rapidly improving shooter on the Qatari Skeet team. And so on .
Qatar’s Athletes at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
Archery
Ali Ahmed A Salem
Fencing
Khalid Issa A M Al Hamadi
Shooting
Nasser Al-Attiya
Rashid Hamad
Swimming
Osama Mohammed Y E Alarag
Taekwondo
Abdulqader Hikmat A Sarhan
Track & Field/Athletics
Ahmad Hassan Abdullah
Rashid Shafi B Aldosari
Thamer Kamal Ali
Mohammed Essa M A Al-Thawadi
Daham Najm Bashair
Samuel Adelebari Francis
Abubaker Ali Kamal
Felix Kikwai Kibore
James Kwalia C Kurui
Ibrahim Babikir I Mohamdein
Yousf Othman Qader
Essa Ismail Rashed
Gamal Belal Salem
Mubarak Hassan Shami
Sultan Khamis Zaman
Weightlifting
Jaber Saeed Salem
