Abderrahman Almoubarrake Samba Alsaleck (born 5 September 1995) is a Qatari male

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete who specialises in the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Summer Olympics, Olympic Sport of athletics, athletics programme since 1900 Summer Olympics, 1900 for men and since 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 for women. On a ...

. He was born and raised in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

but chose to represent

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

– his father's homeland – before eventually switching allegiance to

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

and moving to Doha in 2015. He became eligible to compete for his adopted country in May 2016. He was the second person to run the 400m hurdle event in less than 47 seconds. Samba placed seventh at the

2017 World Championships in Athletics The 2017 IAAF World Championships, the sixteenth edition of the IAAF World Championships, were held from 4 to 13 August at London Stadium in London, United Kingdom. London was officially awarded the championships on 11 November 2011. Bidding p ...

on his global debut. He appeared suddenly on the elite athletics scene, having run modest sprint times in 2016 before winning the 400 m hurdles race at the Qatar leg of the 2017 IAAF Diamond League, beating Olympic champion

Kerron Clement Kerron Stephon Clement (born October 31, 1985) is a Trinidadian-born American track and field athlete who competes in the 400-meter hurdles and 400-meter sprint. He held the List of world indoor records in athletics, indoor world record in the 4 ...

. He ranked eighth in the world that season with his new personal best of 48.31 seconds. In February 2018, he won a

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track and field, track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap, totaling 1600 meters. It is traditionally the final event of ...

gold medal with a Qatari team of Mohamed Nasir Abbas, Mohamed El Nour and Abdalelah Haroun at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships. Then, in the Summer season, he ran the 400 m hurdles in 46.98, the second fastest time ever, at the

Meeting de Paris Meeting de Paris (formerly known as the Meeting Areva and Meeting Gaz de France) is an annual track and field meeting at the Stade Sébastien Charléty in Paris, France. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Di ...

. and won two gold medal at the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

in Indonesia in

and

. In April 2019, he won the gold medal in the

2019 Asian Athletics Championships The 2019 Asian Athletics Championships was the 23rd edition of the Asian Athletics Championships. It was held from 21 to 24 April 2019 at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar. During the closing ceremony of the 22nd Asian Athletics Cha ...

in 400 hurdles and, after being injured through Summer, in October the bronze medal at the

World Athletics Championships The World Athletics Championships, known as the IAAF World Championships in Athletics until 2019, are a biennial sport of athletics, athletics competition organized by World Athletics, formerly International Association of Athletics Federations ...

. He was elected best athlete in Asia at the end of the year.

International competitions

Personal bests

All information from IAAF profile. Last updated 8 March 2019

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Samba, Abderrahman 1995 births Living people Qatari male hurdlers Qatari male sprinters Asian Games gold medalists for Qatar Asian Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Qatar World Athletics Championships medalists IAAF Continental Cup winners Asian Athletics Championships winners Asian Athletics Championships medalists Asian Indoor Athletics Championships winners Mauritanian emigrants to Qatar Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Qatar Qatari people of Mauritanian descent Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics Diamond League winners 21st-century Qatari sportsmen