DOHA: She's just 16, but Mariam Farid is already being touted as one of Qatar's most promising female athletics talents.
A member of the Qatari National track and field team, she's a product of Qatar’s successful athletics development system. Farid was invited to join the National team at the age of 13 after coaches spotted her talent when she was participating in activities organised by Doha’s Aspire Academy.
Farid has represented Qatar in the 400m and 400m hurdles at several international and regional athletics meetings. She won silver medals at both the West Asian Championships in Jordan and the GCC Championships, held earlier this year at Doha’s Khalifa International Stadium.
Though these are still early days, Farid has already set her sight on winning glory for Qatar at the World Championships in 2019, which Doha is bidding to host.
Doha 2019 believe the dream of competing at the IAAF World Championships in Doha in 2019 will be the best possible inspiration for this fast-growing community of female athletes in Qatar and across the whole region.
The Middle East has never hosted the IAAF World Championships before and with attitudes to women’s sport quickly changing, there is no better time to harness the power of hosting the world’s third-largest sporting event and use it as a catalyst for increased female participation in athletics across the Middle East.
“As a female athlete representing Qatar, it is very important for us to host the 2019 World Championships. We want to show the world that there are females playing sport in this country. We exist. Especially because I am a girl who wears a veil,
"I want to show that it is possible to play sport and represent my country. I want to be here in 2019 representing Qatar and I will make my country proud. It would mean so much to win a World Championships medal in front of my home crowd. Doha 2019 would really inspire people in the GCC and Arab countries, especially when they see girls competing. It would really encourage them to take up athletics and represent their countries. I want them to come and join us and discover athletics for girls,” Mariam Farid said.
Doha is competing against bids from Eugene, USA, and Barcelona, Spain. The cities submitted their Candidature Files on September 25 and will receive a visit from the IAAF Evaluation Commission this month. The final decision will be taken by the IAAF Council at its meeting in Monaco in November.
