Donia Abu Taleb narrowly missed becoming the first Saudi to win an Olympic medal on Wednesday.
Abu Taleb was defeated by Mobina Nematzadeh of Iran in the bronze medal play-off in the 49 kg division of the taekwondo competition, which was played at the magnificent Grand Palais in Paris.
The 27-year-old won her last 16 encounter against Israel’s Abishag Semberg before losing in the quarter-finals against Panipak Wongpattanakit of Thailand, a gold medalist from the Tokyo Olympics.
She booked her place in the bronze play-off by seeing off Morocco’s Oumaim El Bouchti 2-0, but the highly-ranked Nematzadeh proved too strong.
“When I started training for the Olympics, I was sure I wanted something big. Just getting into the Olympics wasn’t enough. I wanted more – I wanted a medal,” Nematzadeh said.
Abu Taleb qualified for the Games by winning gold at the 2020 Arab Taekwondo Championships and bronze medals at the 2022 Asian and World Championships.
She advanced to gold at the Asian Taekwondo Championships earlier this year.
Saudi women have fared poorly in the Olympics before.
Another invitee, US-born Sarah Attar, finished a distant last in her 800m heat on the track. Attar was one of four Saudi women to compete as wild cards at the 2016 Olympics, followed by two more at Tokyo 2020.
