The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) on Thursday celebrated its 45th anniversary. Established on March 14, 1979, QOC joined the International Olympic Committee in 1980 and became a member of the World Olympic Council of Asia in 1981. It also joined the Union of Arab National Olympic Committees in 1982.
Since its establishment, QOC has played a prominent role in spreading sports awareness in Qatar, nurturing and developing the Olympic movement following the foundations upon which the Olympic Charter is based, in addition to supporting and developing sports performance, which contributed to the great boom witnessed by the Qatari sports process during the past 45 years. The efforts of the QOC resulted in unprecedented sporting achievements at various levels, the most prominent of which was obtaining eight Olympic medals including two gold medals, two silver medals, and four bronze medals.
Mohamed Suleiman achieved the first Qatari Olympic medal by winning a bronze in the 1,500 meter race at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The second medal came from Asaad Saeed Saif, who won a weightlifting bronze in the 105 kg category at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
At the London 2012 Olympics, Mutaz Barshim claimed the silver medal in high jump event while Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah took the bronze medal in skeet event. Then Barshim returned to win silver in the high jump at the Rio 2016 Olympics before Qatar succeeded in topping the overall standings of Arab countries in the last edition at the Tokyo 2020, with Barshim and weightlifter Fares Ibrahim winning two gold medals in addition to a bronze medal from the beach volleyball team.
The Qatari teams also achieved many other notable achievements in various regional, Asian, and global games. The sporting achievements achieved by Qatar continued to include hosting many major sporting events that made Qatar a global capital of sports in line with the vision of the Qatar Olympic Committee ‘let us be a pioneering nation that unites the world through sustainable sports development.’
One of the most important achievements accomplished by Qatar on the global level is its success in hosting the 1995 FIFA U-20 World Cup, even though the organisation of the tournament was assigned to it approximately two weeks before its scheduled date, so that Qatar proved to the world its ability to organise and host the most important sporting events, just as Qatar succeeded in 2006 in hosting the 15th Asian Games, where Qatar was the first Arab country to host this major sporting event, during which Doha achieved an unparalleled success that is still the talk of the Asian continent.
In the year 2022, Qatar dazzled the world by organising the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 as the first country in the Arab world and the Middle East to win the honour of hosting this global event.
It succeeded in presenting an exceptional tournament that achieved success beyond expectations and that edition was the best in the history of the World Cup. Qatar also impressed the world by organising the Men’s Handball World Championship Qatar in 2015. Qatari team finished second to become the first Asian and Arab team to ascend the podium in the World Championship since its inception.
Qatar also hosted other global events, including the World Indoor Athletics Championships in 2010, the World Boxing Championships in 2015, the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in 2018, the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) World Beach Games in 2019, and the World Athletics Championships in 2019 as well, in addition to the FIFA Club World Cup in 2019 and 2020, and the World Judo Championships in 2023, in addition to the 2024 World Aquatics Championships and other sporting events.
Qatar won the hosting rights for the 21st Asian Games in 2030 for the second time, having hosted the Games in 2006, in addition to hosting the 2027 Basketball World Cup, which will be held for the first time in the Middle East and North Africa.
Through its 2023-2030 strategy, the Qatar Olympic Committee is seeking to achieve three main goals: ensuring sporting excellence, promoting Olympic culture, and achieving comprehensive sports development. To achieve these goals, the Committee is keen to continue its support for the Olympic movement by encouraging all segments of society to participate in sport events and adopting healthy lifestyles. This approach extends to include building and developing elite teams of Qatari male and female players to ensure Qatari excellence in all sporting aspects, including training, management and other technical aspects.
The Qatar Olympic Committee is also seeking to keep pace with developments in the global sports system by organising many pioneering programs and initiatives at the level of the Middle East. The Committee also pays great attention to administrative and technical development.
