With the 2024 Paris Olympics just under a month away, many athletes will be making their first appearance at the Games.
One of those making her debut is Donia Abu Taleb, the Saudi Arabian taekwondo standout who has become the first female athlete from the kingdom to qualify for the Olympics, the pinnacle of sports competition.
Abu Taleb had an unusual introduction to the sport: for years she trained at a boys' club because there were no girls to compete with.
The 27 year old has become the poster child for Saudi Arabia's push to champion women's athletics, and her face can be seen on posters and billboards throughout the kingdom. But the Jeddah native had much humbler beginnings.
“I started taekwondo when I was eight years old and there was no support like now,” Abu Taleb, who also has a law degree, told AFP after a recent training session in the southern mountain city of Abha.
“I always played with the boys in the boys' centre, originally without girls. I used to wear a head-covering on my hair so as not to show that I was a girl.”
Abu Taleb holds the distinction of being the first female Saudi to qualify for a Games. In 2012 in London, judo athlete Wojdan Shaherkani became the first Saudi woman to compete at the Olympics thanks to a special invitation from the International Olympic Committee.
Her historic debut lasted just 82 seconds, as she was beaten in the first round.
US-born Sarah Attar, another invitee, finished a distant last in her 800m heat on the track. Attar was one of four Saudi women to compete as wildcards at the 2016 Olympics, and they were followed by two more at Tokyo 2020.
Abu Taleb has taken advantage of the newfound state backing, bagging gold at the 2020 Arab Taekwondo Championship and bronze medals at the Asian and World Championships in 2022.
Earlier this year she upgraded to gold at the Asian Taekwondo Championships.
“From the beginning, I dreamt of being a world champion, participating in the Olympics, and winning gold,” she said.
To date, Saudi Arabia has won two bronze and two silver medals at the Olympics, all for men.
Abu Taleb's success at the Olympics would give added momentum to Saudi Arabia's campaign to rebrand itself as a sports hub.
The kingdom will host the 2027 Asian Cup football tournament, the 2029 Asian Winter Games and the 2034 Asian Games, and regularly holds Formula One races and heavyweight boxing title fights. The country most recently held its first UFC event, headlined by former middleweight champion, Robert Whittaker.
Last year it also emerged as the sole bidder to host the 2034 football World Cup, and lavished more than a billion dollars on luring top footballers to the Saudi Pro League including Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Karim Benzema.
Though she competes in a relatively low-profile event, Abu Taleb has gained officials' attention.
Saudi Arabia hired Russian coach Kurban Bogdaev, who guided Tunisian Mohamed Jendoubi to silver at the Tokyo Olympics, to coach the Saudi taekwondo team.
“The first time I saw Donia, her level was low, but I saw her eager to grow and achieve,” Bogdaev said, adding that he did not necessarily view her as an Olympic prospect at first. But she “trains hard, always believes in herself, and is confident in what she can do”, he added.
“Preparing an Olympic champion takes many years and is a state project,” Shaddad Al Omari, the Saudi Taekwondo Federation's president, said.
As the Olympics approach, Abu Taleb is fully aware of the pressure she'll be under but insists she can handle it. “As the first Saudi woman to qualify for the Olympics, I have reached the stage of kill or be killed,” she said. “I have reached a place where I must achieve something.”
