Emirati cyclist Safia Al Sayegh will carry the UAE’s hopes in the women’s road race at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
The 22-year-old Safia, who is the first female Emirati cyclist to qualify for the Summer Games, will be competing against a strong field that includes 96 cyclists. The race covers a distance of 158km.
The UAE is represented by 14 male and female athletes competing in 5 different disciplines — equestrian, judo, athletics, cycling, and swimming.
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American Kristin Armstrong is the oldest cyclist to win an Olympic medal in the road race category for both men and women, at the age of 43, when she won the women’s individual time trial in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Conversely, the Belgian Rik Van Looy is the youngest Olympic champion in road cycling, winning the gold medal in the men’s team road race at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952 at the age of 18 years and 226 days.
Coming back to the UAE’s participation, in swimming, Maha Al Shehhi competed in the 200m freestyle, achieving a time of 2:17.17 minutes, 20 milliseconds faster than her previous record, finishing 28th overall.
Yousuf Al Matrooshi recorded a time of 50.39 seconds in the 100m freestyle, finishing 44th and breaking his previous record of 50.43 seconds.
The equestrian team concluded its participation in the team jumping competition in the qualifying round, finishing 18th with a total of 72 errors and a time of 249.47 seconds. The team still has the individual competition, which will take place on Monday, and will last for two days at the Palace of Versailles.
Sprinter Maryam Al Farsi also concluded her participation in the competition, finishing ninth in the second round of the 100 metres, with a personal best time of 13.26 seconds.
The judo team also completed their participation in the tournament across six different weight categories through players including Bashirat Kharoudi in the 52kg category, Narmand Bayan in the under 66kg category, Talal Shvili in the under 81kg category, Aram Gregorian, who was on the verge of qualifying for the semifinals in the under 90kg category after impressive performances and winning the first and second matches, Dhafer Aram in the under 100kg category, and Omar Marouf in the over 100 kg category, who was eliminated in the round of 16 due to some refereeing errors after defeating the Algerian champion in the round of 32.