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SWIMMING:
100m Breaststroke
Mohammed al Habsi will represent Oman in the 100m breaststroke. His personal best in this event is 1.12.00. The world record for this event is 0.59.30 set by Brendan Hansen of the USA in Long Beach, USA, on
July 08, 2004.
“He has no chance of getting a medal, he is only participating to get some international exposure and more competitive experience under his belt ahead of the GCC Competition in Abu Dhabi on August 21. This will just help him improve his timings if he’s put up against faster competitors. FINA approved Oman to have two entries in the 100m breaststroke and 800m freestyle but we only entered one swimmer for the breaststroke. Realistically speaking, no one from the Arab world can keep up with current Olympic timings. Maybe only Tunisian Oussama Mellouli stands a chance.”
Mashar al Kassar
Technical Advisor
Oman Swimming Association
RUNNING:
100m and 200m
Oman’s Abdullah al Souli enters the 100m and 200m sprint for Oman. His personal best in the 100m is 11.44 seconds, and in the 200m 21.26 seconds. Usain Bolt of Jamaica holds the 100m world record 9.72 (2008) and Michael Johnson of the USA holds the 200m record of 19.32 seconds set in 1996.
“It would be a real success for Abdullah al Souli and Oman to just get past the first round. If he made it into the second round, we would be absolutely delighted. The competition is extremely tough for him, people are going under ten seconds now in the 100m and his best is just 11.44 seconds. So he has no hope of a medal.”
Dr Mansour al Tauqi
General Secretary
Oman Athletic Association
Shooting:
50m rifle shooting prone position
Dad al Balushi is our man on the rifle range for the 50m rifle men’s prone competition with 60 rounds. At present his best score is around 595. The record for this event is 600 in qualifying and 704.8 in the finals. This was set by Christian Klees of Germany at Atlanta 1996.
“He has been quite successful in Arab, GCC and West Asian Games in the rifle competitions, however at the Olympics he is very far away from the medals. Of course he will try, anything can happen and everyone will be trying their best at the Games. Dad has a ten day training camp before he goes to the Olympics, but at the moment he’s still well off the medal mark. Oman is participating more as a gesture of international unity than making a bold, serious and competitive statement. We can’t really expect a medal here.”
Salim al Khatari
Deputy Shooting Coach
Oman Shooting Association
JUMPING:
100m, Long Jump and/or Triple Jump
Buthaina Yaqoubi will be the first female Omani athlete to ever compete in the Olympics. She will try the 100m, long jump and/or triple jump. Her time in the 100m is around 11.80 seconds and her best triple jump to date is 10.80m. The world record for the women’s 100m is 10.49 seconds by USA’s Florence Griffith-Joyner (1988) and the record for long jump is 7.52m by Russia’s Galina Chistyakova (1988). In the triple jump it is 15.50m, a record held by Ukraine’s Inessa Kravets (1995).
“For the first time in our Olympic history, we are sending a woman athlete to the games. It was just a case of finding and sending someone as a representative. She has no chance at all. At just 16 years of age, she’ll find the competition very tough. She’s entered for the 100m and the triple jump but we are thinking to swap that to participation in the Long Jump because of a problem in her technique, which we are yet to iron out in training. What would be really great is for Buthaina to record a personal best at the games.”
Dr Mansour al Tauqi
General Secretary
Oman Athletic Association
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