25 AN IMPORTANT STEP Sudan first participated in the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960. Since then, 72 athletes have represented the country in the Games. One of these athletes is Omer Khalifa (athletics, Sudan). He participated in the 800 metres and 1500 metres competitions at the Los Angeles 1984 Games and the 1,500 metres race in Seoul 1988, where he had the honour of being his country’s flag bearer at the Opening Ceremonies. At the Arab Games, he left his mark with two gold medals in 1976 (800m and 1500m races) and one gold medal in the 1985 Games (800m race).
5th Arab Games overview (1976) City-Country Dates
Sports
Venues/Facilities/ Cities Athletes
Damascus, Syria September 6th to 21th 1976 (16 days) Athletics, Basketball, Boxing, Cycling, Equestrian, Football, Gymnastics, Handball, Judo, Karate, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball, Water polo, Weightlifting and Wrestling (18 sports) Damascus
Approximately 2500 athletes (men) Bahrain , Jordan, Kuwait, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, South Countries Yemen 1, Sudan, Syria and United Arab Emirates (11 countries) 1 People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (1967-1990).
Medal table (1976) Country Syria Morocco Sudan Kuwait Saudi Arabia Jordan Bahrain South Yemen
Gold 61 38 10 4 3 2 1 0
Silver 42 17 9 6 4 5 5 0
Bronze 19 15 8 10 19 7 7 1
Total 122 70 27 20 26 14 13 1
Omer Khalifa at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games © IOC
THE UNIQUE GAMES