São Paulo – After winning the Dakar Rally last year, Nasser Al-Attiyah is now an Olympic medallist. The 41-year old Qatari won bronze in skeet shooting at the Olympic Games in London this Tuesday (31st). This is his fifth participation in the Games.
“The dream has come true and I’m very happy to win bronze,” said Attiyah, according to the Olympics website. The gold medal went to the American Vincent Hancock, and the Danish Anders Golding won silver.
This is only the third Olympic medal for Qatar. The first was bronze in the 1,500 metre race in Barcelona, 1992; the second was another bronze, in Sydney, 2000, for weight lifting.
Attiyah won the 2011 Dakar racing for Volkswagen. This year he will race the World Rally Championship driving a Citroën.
Also this Tuesday, the 21-year old Egyptian Alaaeldin Abouelkassem won silver in fencing, after being defeated by China’s Sheng Lei in the final. According to Egypt’s newspaper Al Ahram, this is the first medal ever won by an African country in the category.
Attiyah and Abouelkassem’s medals were the only two won by Arab countries so far in the London Olympics.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
