Abdullah Al-Rashidi (born August 23, 1963) is a Kuwaiti sport shooter and three-time world champion. He competed at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on b ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, 2016, and

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in ...

, winning bronze medals in men's skeet in both 2016 and

Achievements

Abdullah Al-Rashidi won three gold medals at the

World Shooting Championships The ISSF World Shooting Championships are governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation. World Shooting Championships began in 1897, after the successful 1896 Summer Olympics, and although the ISSF was not founded until 1907, these earl ...

, in 1995, 1997 and 1998 and in 2011 he took a bronze medal. Competing since 1989, he is also the winner of four

World cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

events. He has six gold and three silver medals from

Asian Shooting Championships The Asian Shooting Championships are governed by the Asian Shooting Confederation. Asian Shooting Championships began in 1967. These championships, including almost all ISSF shooting events, are held every four years. Asian Shooting Championships ...

and two gold and one silver medal from

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until th ...

2016 Olympic games

In the 2016 Summer Olympics, Al-Rashidi competed as an " independent Olympic athlete" because Kuwait was banned from the Olympics by the IOC over government interference in sport. He won the qualification, finished fourth in the semifinals and won the

bronze medal match Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...

against Ukraine's Mikola Milchev, the winner from Sydney in 2000. As his status of being an independent Olympian did not enable the restriction of the uniform of his national team, he received media attention for competing whilst wearing the training shirt of

Arsenal F.C. Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, London, England. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (inc ...

despite not being a supporter himself, leading to people on social media to draw comparison to him and the team's performance in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. Al-Rashidi won his second Olympic bronze medal in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, this time competing for Kuwait.

Olympic results

References

External links

* * 1963 births Living people Asian Games medalists in shooting Asian Games gold medalists for Kuwait Asian Games silver medalists for Kuwait Asian Games bronze medalists for Kuwait Kuwaiti male sport shooters Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games Medalists at the 1998 Asian Games Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Kuwait Olympic bronze medalists as Independent Olympic Participants Olympic medalists in shooting Olympic shooters as Independent Olympic Participants Olympic shooters of Kuwait Shooters at the 1994 Asian Games Shooters at the 1998 Asian Games Shooters at the 2006 Asian Games Shooters at the 2010 Asian Games Shooters at the 2014 Asian Games Shooters at the 2018 Asian Games Shooters at the 1996 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2000 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2004 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2008 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2012 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2016 Summer Olympics Shooters at the 2020 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Kuwait City {{Kuwait-sportshooting-bio-stub