Female Saudi Athletes – Out of the Olympics, Into the Twitter Storm · Global Voices
Haifa Alrasheed

This post is part of our special coverage of the London 2012 Olympics.
After stepping out of the Olympics, the first and only Saudi female athletes in the history of the Saudi sports, Sarah Attar and Wojdan Shahrkhani have received a storm of reactions on the Saudi twittersphere.
After emerging last in the women's 800 metres, Sarah received a good round of applause from the audience – and her name became a trending topic on Twitter.
Inspiration
Below is a sample of support tweets from Saudi Twitter users for both athletes:
It's not the winning but the taking part #SaraAttar 1st female Saudi athelete to compete ever! #olympicmoments – Twitter comment by @DIAstyle, who shares this photograph on Twitter
Ali Khadra writes:
‏@aykcanvas: It's not always abt gold! What u did is far greater. Thank u #SaraAttar #Wejdan #Wijdan. Thank u #KSA. Better late than never #2012Olympics
Bader Aljehani beams with pride:
@BooDzJ: #SaraAttar We are proud of you and Wejdan more than anyone in the Saudi Team!
Sara Attar is a global trend :) #SaraAttar, writes @WordWizard on Twitter. He also shares this screen shot
And Nada Abu makes a promise:
@NadaAbu: You’ll see me on the screen a winner one day. Thanks for the inspiration #SaraAttar http://twitpic.com/agw7nn
You disgraced us!
On the other hand, some Saudi Twitter users were against the participation of the two athletes, blaming their families and authorities for allowing them to ‘drag down’ the Kingdom's name and reputation.
Among them in this Twitter user, Faisal Abuthnain, who writes [ar]:
ZaibB was shocked of what he read on the hashtag dedicated to the two athletes and complains:
‏@ZainB:مسكينة #وجدان_شهرخاني دخلت الهاشتاق فوجدتها تتعرض لثلاث انواع من العنصرية: ١- العنصرية المناطقية ٢- العنصرية القبلية ٣- العنصرية ضد المرأة
Dr. Mahammad Albarrak is critical:
@mohamdalbarrak:أشد من فعل المنكر أن يدافع الإنسان عنه ويعتبره معروفا ويحاول جاهدا أن يبحث له عن مبررات مثل الذين يدافعون عن #سارة_العطار و #وجدان_شهرخاني
Finally, Nourah is trying to justify:
@noura_aljadaan: For everyone who is laughing at #SaraAttar don't forget that schools here don't teach girls sports so going there is an accomplishment
This post is part of our special coverage of the London 2012 Olympics.