Shazia Hidayat (born 4 April 1976) is a Pakistani-Canadian former
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 ...
2000 Summer Olympics
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...
in
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. Her personal best for the
1500 metres
The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...
is 4:58.79 minutes. She became only the second woman ever to represent Pakistan at an Olympic event after
Shabana Akhtar
Shabana Akhtar (born April 5, 1972) from the
, at the
1996 Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
.
Life
Born in
Chichawatni
Chichawatni (, ) is a city in the Sahiwal District of the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the administrative center of Chichawatni Tehsil. Situated near the old main road called Grand Trunk Road, it lies approximately from the district c ...
, Punjab, she grew up in a village (49/12 L, Subhanpur) 360 kilometers south of
Islamabad
Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...
. She started running at the age of 14.
Hidayat had to overcome huge obstacles to compete internationally. The main objection raised was that track and field traditionally how a Pakistani woman could race in a competition in which other women do not wear clothes that cover their body. Her parents, especially her father, encouraged her to run, but her training was done at 2:30 in the morning with a brother biking to pace her, because female athletes were not allowed to run on the road. She realized that if she qualified, she would have to wear a jogging suit while others wore shorts, per Pakistani law.
While running qualifying races in the daytime in her home country, spectators threw rocks and tomatoes at her.
In 2005, Hidayet ran the
Lahore Marathon
The Lahore Marathon is an annual road marathon held in Lahore, Pakistan on 2005, 2006, and 2012. The main event is the traditional 42.195 km marathon race. Other races in the marathon include a 10 km race, 5 km "Family Fun Run", ...
alongside several other female runners.
In 2008, after running a marathon in Toronto, Hidayat claimed refugee status in Canada due to safety concerns in Pakistan. She moved to
Saskatoon
Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...
in 2010. In 2011, Hidayat competed in the Knights of Columbus Indoor Games in Saskatoon.
By 2016, she worked at the
University of Saskatchewan
The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...
, took classes to further improve her English, and trained in the afternoons. She hoped to coach other female runners in the future. She was naturalized as a Canadian citizen in 2016. In December of that year, her family also immigrated to Canada.