(Abha) As a child, taekwondo player Donia Abou Taleb trained in a boys’ club, due to a lack of alternatives. Having become the first Saudi woman to qualify for the Olympic Games, she dreams of winning gold in Paris this summer.
If her smiling face appears on official signs, a symbol of the authorities’ shift towards women’s sport, Donia Abou Taleb, 27, had more discreet beginnings.
“I started taekwondo at eight years old and there was no support like now,” she told AFP, leaving training in Abha, a city in southern Saudi Arabia. .
“I have always practiced with boys in centers for boys, without girls initially. I covered my hair so as not to show that I was a girl.” This experience “made me strong […] I like challenges,” adds the young woman, a law graduate.
If the most privileged participated in tennis or football competitions in private clubs, women’s athletics received little attention.
In 2012, judoka Wojdan Shaherkani was the first Saudi woman to participate in the Olympics, in London, but as a guest of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Her historic debut lasted just 82 seconds, as she was defeated in the first round. Another guest, 800m runner Sarah Attar finished last in her series.
Five other Saudi women also benefited from invitations in 2016, to Rio, then to Tokyo, in 2021, but Donia Abou Taleb is the first to qualify by right.
Since Mohammed bin Salman became crown prince in 2017, the country has wanted to break away from its image: women have been allowed to drive, encouraged to work.
The authorities also lifted the ban on attending football matches in stadiums and invested in the development of a women’s football team.
With the support of the state, Donia Abou Taleb won a gold medal at the Arab taekwondo championship in 2020, then bronze at the Asian championships and the 2022 world championships (-49 kg).
And after winning gold in May at the Asian championships, she says she has high hopes for Paris.
“From the beginning, I dreamed of being world champion, participating in the Olympic Games and winning gold,” says the Saudi.
Saudi Arabia has, in its history, won only four Olympic medals, two bronze and two silver, all among men.
The country is expected to host the Asian Football Cup in 2027, the Asian Winter Games in 2029 and the Asian Games in 2034. It is the only candidate to host the 2034 World Cup.
In 2022, its Minister of Sports, Abdelaziz ben Turki Al-Faisal, told AFP that organizing the Olympics was the government’s “ultimate goal”.
If taekwondo is not the most media-focused of the disciplines, the Saudi team wanted to put all the chances on its side by recruiting Russian coach Kurban Bogdaev who, at the start, was not necessarily banking on Donia Abou Taleb.
“The first time I met her, her level was low, but I saw her determination to grow and succeed,” he says. She “trains hard, always believes in herself and is confident in what she can do.”
During training in Abha, the young woman wearing a blue helmet nimbly dodges blows from Russian and Uzbek athletes.
“Preparing an Olympic champion takes many years and it is a state project,” emphasizes the president of the Saudi Taekwondo Federation, Shaddad Al-Omari.
As the Games approach, the taekwondo athlete assures that she can handle the pressure inherent in her status as the first Saudi to qualify: “I have to accomplish something.”