What is everyone' thoughts on athletes like Sarah Attar (245 800m runner at last Olympics)competing in the Olympics?

I don't know what my thoughts are yet, but before getting to that I just wanted to tell you that everyone else's thoughts are bigoted and wrong.

The CIA installed the Saud nazi rulers many decades ago. There's no freedom, no democracy, no suffrage, under the CIA regime. No wonder Attar lives in Malibu.

Just to clarify I never cared what her religious affiliation or race was I understand there are alot of athletes like this from all over. Hence why I said "athletes like Sarah Attar". I just read that article so I thought I would reference it to make my point.

I was just wondering strictly from a competitive standpoint what peoples thoughts are slower runners competing at the olympics. I understand that having all countries compete is important at the olympics but so is competition and I was just wondering where on the spectrum everyone stands.

You need a few events with an easy minimum standard and then have the slow nations compete against one another and the finalist go against the field. I thought they were going to do that, like swimming. When Iwas there in 2004 then mentioned it. I thought they did it in 2008??

It will promote the sport and make global.

Kind of embarassing how slow she is compared to the standard. She's 28 minutes too slow to make the US trials. She isn't even a serious runner, just look at her bio from college:

http://www.pepperdinewaves.com/sports/c-track/mtt/attar_sarah00.html

How embarassing to be an olympian, but be midpack on your own college team. You see up at the top that pepperdine has had 28 all americans, and 7 olympians. Well 6 of those olympians were all americans ha.

Anyways who this should really embarass is Saudi Arabia. They're so pathetic that they have to get an American to just fill their sympathy spot. This means no woman in the theocracy even has a remote level of athleticism. God thats got to suck for men there.

Dieudonné LaMothe from Haiti finished last in the 5000m in '76 in 18:50 and last in the marathon in '84 in 2:52. However in '88 he improved greatly to finish 20th in the marathon in 2:16, a good time under oppressive conditions.

http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/la/dieudonne-lamothe-1.html

running 2:45 isn't making history for an 800, a totally untrained woman can do that if she's height/weight proportionate.

wasn't there a swimmer a few years ago who brought a towel with him out onto the pool deck for his race?

The Olympics isn't about having the best possible field for each event, otherwise there would be 10-15 Kenyans and Ethiopians in every distance event and the sprints would be all USA and Jamaica. It's about global participation in sport.

Bonkers wrote:

wasn't there a swimmer a few years ago who brought a towel with him out onto the pool deck for his race?

But Eric the Eel and Eddie the Eagle weren't foreign ringers brought in because the local Erics and Eddies weren't allowed to do sports.

I think Eric (who won his heat!) is now the team coach. Not sure if he is in Rio.

I think it's great!

It's a powerful visual representation of how far behind Saudi Arabia is on women's rights. It reminds us of the restrictions on women in other parts of the world... even her dress at the starting line is restrictive for competitive athletics.

Also, seeing her at the start will remind me of how lucky I was to have athletics in my life and a reminder that so many women in the world miss out on this opportunity. I can't imagine what I would do without a chance to play sports and particularly DI athletics, the highest level I could get to. My life would be lacking without this. A lot of women have this competitive drive that has to be unleashed.

I am humbled to think that were I born in a different place or time I would have missed out on so many things: sports, the right to vote, the right to an education (I love school), the choice in who I marry, the choice to have kids or not, to leave an abusive relationship, to drive a car. These are not small things.

love it wrote:

I think it's great!

It's a powerful visual representation of how far behind Saudi Arabia is on women's rights. It reminds us of the restrictions on women in other parts of the world... even her dress at the starting line is restrictive for competitive athletics.

Look up pictures of her though. She doesn't seem to wear the restrictive dress code any other time except at the Olympic events and related fanfare, which makes it seem kind of like a stunt. And she wasn't born or raised in Saudi Arabia, so it just seems kinda weird/disingenuous to hold her up as this inspirational first "Saudi" woman competing in the Olympics. That said, she seems like a cool girl and I hope she gets a PR in the marathon.

Bonkers wrote:

wasn't there a swimmer a few years ago who brought a towel with him out onto the pool deck for his race?

The Olympics isn't about having the best possible field for each event, otherwise there would be 10-15 Kenyans and Ethiopians in every distance event and the sprints would be all USA and Jamaica. It's about global participation in sport.

Is it really though, when the Saudi athlete has lived in America all her life, probably never been to Saudi Arabia for more than a vacation, attended a university in the US and identifies as American. Every 4 years she touts out her Saudi citizenship and dons the Saudi headcoverings she wears at no other time. You can bet your butt that if she were good enough to even make the US trials, she would have tried for a spot on the US team.

charlieAlphaTango wrote:

love it wrote:

I think it's great!

It's a powerful visual representation of how far behind Saudi Arabia is on women's rights. It reminds us of the restrictions on women in other parts of the world... even her dress at the starting line is restrictive for competitive athletics.

Look up pictures of her though. She doesn't seem to wear the restrictive dress code any other time except at the Olympic events and related fanfare, which makes it seem kind of like a stunt. And she wasn't born or raised in Saudi Arabia, so it just seems kinda weird/disingenuous to hold her up as this inspirational first "Saudi" woman competing in the Olympics. That said, she seems like a cool girl and I hope she gets a PR in the marathon.

I have seen her photos and agree that this is about as authentic as the token 'women's voting' initiative in Saudi Arabia in recent years. She is only competing because she comes from a society that has allowed her to participate in sports (the US). I assume she is wearing that style of dress to race in because she is representing Saudi Arabia at that time and adhering to prescribed conventions of that society.

All this, and I still like the fact that she's competing and shedding light on the disparities for women in most of the middle east.

No one is saying Saudi women are privileged. The olympic standard for women's 800 is 2:01.50. If you can't come within 30 seconds of that, what are you doing at the olympics?

different perspective wrote:

Every country should get 1-2 athletes into something, no matter their ability. The more countries that compete, the better. I'd say good for Sarah Attar becoming a 3:11 marathoner, that is light years better than a 2:45 800m. It's amazing she even gets to compete when most countries in the middle east don't let women do anything at all.

This. While 3:11 isn't competitive by any stretch of the imagination, if she PRs she likely will not finish last (of those who finish). There are usually quite a few 2:40 - 2:45 types who have an off day and run between 2:55 - 3:20.

for realsies wrote:

fdasafgsd wrote:

Troll post. Too stereotypical of a millenial. Or is your argument really that Saudi women are so privileged that it's unfair to women from other nations that they get to compete?

No one is saying Saudi women are privileged. The olympic standard for women's 800 is 2:01.50. If you can't come within 30 seconds of that, what are you doing at the olympics?

Actually a 3:11 in the marathon is equivalent to a 2:24 for 800m according to the Purdy points calculator [and that seems about right to me].

Alternatively she is 15% slower than the olympic standard in the marathon, and 34% slower than the standard in the 800m. That is a pretty big difference in my opinion. So her being entered in the marathon is equivalent to a 2:18 woman being entered in the 800m.

peace be upon on you

I think Attar competing in olympic ,it s good, will help to free women in middle east from certain no Muslim customs / traditions or behaviors ,and women can exercice to be healthy specially our time there is lot wetern fast food place in middle east ,olympic can unify athletes from all over the world from different race,religion and gender as well fitness level ,may god bless us with peace friend ship and sport spirit