Having turned 12, last month, she is the youngest competitor in Sydney and also one of two female Bahraini athletes who this year are becoming the first from a Gulf state ever to compete at the Olympics. Abdel Majid and 100-metre runner Myriam Al-Hili were invited to Sydney by the International Olympic Committee to encourage the participation of women from the strictly Islamic Gulf countries.

In all of those countries women are typically not allowed to compete in sports at a high level and in countries like Saudi Arabia -- just a short drive across a causeway from the island state of Bahrain -- they aren't even allowed to drive. “I was very surprised when my father told me the news, Abdel Majid told AFP.

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Her surprise came not only because she is a girl in a country in which the right to compete in sports is normally limited to boys.

Bureau Report