Manama: HH Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, First Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, President of the General Sports Authority and President of Bahrain Olympic Committee has honored Bahraini athlete Maryam Jamal with the gold medal of the 2012 London Olympics after she has been promoted from third to first place.
The Bahraini athlete finished third in the 1500m race, but recent tests discovered that the gold medal winner and the runner-up in the same competition were doped.
This came in a special ceremony held on this occasion at Al Wadi Palace on Saturday in the presence of HH Shaikh Salman bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Vice President of the General Sports Authority, Aymen bin Tawfiq Almoayed, Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Dr Abdulrahman Sadiq Askar, CEO of the General Sports Authority, Mohammed Hassan Al Nusf, Secretary-General of the Bahrain Olympic Committee, the Board of Directors of the Bahrain Olympic Committee, Mohammed Abdulatif bin Jalal, President of Bahrain Athletics Association, the Board of Directors of the Bahrain Athletics Association and the Bahraini athlete Maryam Jamal as well as VIPs and officials.
The event began with playing the Olympic anthems which is one of the Olympic symbols, while other procedures followed to honour Olympic winners were followed as per the International Olympic Committee’s guidelines.
After that, HH Shaikh Khalid delivered a speech, welcoming the attendees and wishing the Bahraini athlete every success in the coming races. The event also included a keynote from Al Nusf who expressed sincere congratulations on this accomplishment on behalf of the Bahrain Olympic Committee, stating that this achievement came thanks to the support of the wise leadership to the sports movement and the instructions of HH Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
He added that winning this gold medal represents great value for the Kingdom of Bahrain, “We are proud of the first medal won by Maryam in the history of Bahrain, becoming the first GCC athlete to bag an Olympic medal. Thanks to her accomplishment we doubled our efforts and this culminates our endeavors.”
Then, HH Shaikh Khalid honored the Bahraini athlete with the gold medal. Meanwhile, Maryam Jamal expressed sincere thanks and appreciation to HH Shaikh Khalid for his support throughout her career, explaining that this official ceremony is testimonial to His Highness’ support.
