Jordan to send a record 14 athletes to Olympic Games

AMMAN — Jordan will make history by sending its biggest number of athletes to an Olympic Games when an impressive 14 will travel to Tokyo, Japan next month, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service. 

The number breaks the previous set by the 13-strong delegation that travelled to the 1984 Los Angeles Games, and particularly impressive is the number who have actually qualified with 10 booking their places through their sports’ tough qualifications processes.

No less than eight sports will see Jordanians competing, including equestrian, boxing, karate, taekwondo, swimming, shooting, judo and athletics.

Ibrahim Bisharat will be the most senior athlete in the delegation and was the first to qualify for Tokyo to make his fourth appearance at an Olympic Games in Horse Jumping. He previously competed at Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.

Bisharat finished second in his Group F Equestrian tournament that included 66 countries from Asia and Africa.

He was then joined by the boxing delegation which will be comprised of five fighters who came through the Asian/Oceanian boxing qualification event held in Amman in March 2020 after it was moved from Wuhan, China, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That event welcomed over 220 boxers from 35 countries with Hussein Ishaish (-91kg), Obada Al Kesbeh (-63kg), Ziad Ishaish (-69kg), Mohammad Al Wadi (-57kg) and Udai Al Hindawi (-81kg) all clinching their Olympic spots.

Hussein and Obadah will be competing at their second Olympic Games after also qualifying to Rio 2016.

Jordan will be represented in taekwondo by Saleh Al Sharabati (-80kg) and Juliana Al Sadeq (-67kg), who came through another Amman-hosted qualification event in May to book their places. 

It means that Jordan will compete in taekwondo for the fifth consecutive Olympics, with the fighters hoping to emulate the heroics of Ahmad Abu Ghaush who won Jordan’s first ever medal — a gold — at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro in the -67kg category. 

Karate has been added to the Olympic roster for the first time and Jordan will be among the countries participating after AbdulRahman Al Masatfa came through the qualification tournament held in Paris, France last month.

Yunis Eyal Salman will be competing for Jordan in judo, following in the footsteps of Ibrahim Khalaf, who was the first Jordanian judoka to compete at an Olympics five years ago. He has qualified for the -73kg category.

The International Shooting Federation has recognised the achievements of Asma’ Abu Rabee who has been invited to compete following her record in Arab competitions. She will take part in the 10m pistol, the first Jordanian shooter to do so since Sydney 2000, with the sport also being the first that Jordan competed at in 1980 at Moscow.

Twenty-year-old Aliya Bushnaq has an impressive track record in Arab competitions and that has been recognised by the IAAF who have invited her to compete in the 100m for athletics.

There will be two swimmers represented with Talita Baqleh set to make her third appearance after breaking Jordan records at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Games. She will compete in the 50m freestyle, with another ticket open for a soon to be announced male swimmer.

The record-breaking delegation has been warmly praised by Nasser Majali, Jordan Olympic Committee (JOC) secretary general, who described them as the pride of Jordan by relaying the congratulations of HRH Prince Feisal, JOC president. 

“This record number of athletes is down to the hard work and dedication of the athletes, their coaches and the federations who have supported them,” said Majali.

The list is particularly pleasing for the JOC who launched the Kingdom’s first sporting strategy in 2017, with one of the goals to qualify more athletes for major competitions.