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women

Saudis Add Females in Big Olympics for Women

It's sending 2 female athletes to London Games
Posted Jul 12, 2012 7:34 AM CDT
Saudi Add Females in Big Olympics for Women
Saudi Arabia's Sarah Attar will compete in the 800m race. Pictured here: the women's 800 meter run final during Day Four of the 2012 US Olympic Track & Field Team Trials, June 25, 2012.   (Getty Images)

London 2012 is shaping up to be the year of the woman. Three big Olympic firsts are set to happen when the Games kick off in a few weeks:

  • Saudi Arabia will indeed send female athletes to the Olympics, announced the IOC today, putting an end to its males-only history. Two female Saudi competitors will be vying for gold: judo athlete Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani and 800-meter runner Sarah Attar.

  • With Saudi Arabia's move and previously announced identical moves by Qatar (which has even elected to have a woman bear its flag at the opening ceremony) and Brunei, every single country competing at the Olympics will for the first time include female athletes, reports the AP.
  • And a notable first out of the good old USA: Women will outnumber men on the Olympic team for the first time ever, 269 to 261, reports the AP. The oldest and youngest Americans competing happen to be women, too: 54-year-old equestrian rider Karen O'Connor, and 15-year-old swimmer Katie Ledecky.

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