1. Sarah Attar is a Saudi-American track and field athlete who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics as one of the first two female Olympians representing Saudi Arabia.
23 Facts About Sarah Attar
1. 2.
Sarah Attar competed in the marathon at the 2016 Olympics.
3.
Sarah Attar was invited to participate in the Olympics despite her not having met the standard Olympic qualifying times, which were waived by the International Olympic Committee.
4.
Sarah Attar was born and raised in Escondido, California, United States.
5.
Sarah Attar's mother, Judy, is an American national hailing from California, and her father, Amer, is a Saudi Arabian national who went to college in the United States and married her mother in 1984.
6.
Sarah Attar graduated from Escondido High School, in Escondido, in 2010.
7.
Sarah Attar competed for the school in cross country running.
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Sarah Attar was one of eight athletes from Pepperdine to be selected to compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics, along with Roxanne Barker, who was on the South African team and others.
9.
Sarah Attar ran in two college meets for Pepperdine in March 2012, finishing 12th in a 1,500-meter heat in the Cal State Fullerton Ben Brown Invitational in 5:30.51, and 29th in the 3,000 meters in the Spring Break Invitational in 11:37.41.
10.
Sarah Attar has lived in the United States her entire life, and though she does not speak Arabic she travels to Saudi Arabia about once a year to visit relatives.
11.
Sarah Attar was named one of the first two women to compete for Saudi Arabia in the Olympics, on their Olympic team at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
12.
Sarah Attar was expected by Saudi Arabia to wear running outfits that complied with Islamic law.
13.
Sarah Attar competed in the women's 800 metres, without having met the Olympic qualifying time.
14.
Sarah Attar had competed at the distance only once, during high school, but not since she had attended college.
15.
Sarah Attar competed in Heat 6 of the women's 800m qualifying heats on August 8,2012.
16.
Sarah Attar finished last, with a time of 2:44.95, far behind Janeth Jepkosgei's heat-winning 2:01.04.
17.
Sarah Attar finished more than half a minute slower than her nearest competitor, who crossed the finish line 150 meters ahead of her.
18.
Sarah Attar competed for Saudi Arabia in the 2016 Olympic Games in the marathon.
19.
Sarah Attar again received a wild card entry, in which she did not have to meet the standard Olympic qualifying time.
20.
Sarah Attar ran fully covered, wearing long sleeves and long pants as she had in 2012, but this time wearing a baseball cap instead of a headscarf.
21.
Sarah Attar completed the marathon in 132nd place out of 133 women who finished, in a time of 3:16:11, which was 52 minutes behind the Kenyan winner Jemima Sumgong.
22.
In 2018, Sarah Attar improved her personal best in the Marathon, at the Chicago Marathon, running 3:07:16, and the half marathon, at the Houston Half Marathon, in 1:26:47, both national records for the respective distances.
23.
Sarah Attar was previously sponsored by Oiselle, an American running apparel company that promotes and supports female athletes.