Tala Abujbara (, also transliterated as Tala Abu-Jubara, born 22 July 1992) is a Qatari

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

. She competed in the women's single sculls event at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Career

Tala Abujbara learned to row while studying at

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...

, where a coach saw her potential, and she joined the team. Upon returning home to Qatar, she had nobody to pair with, so she switched to the single sculls. In August 2018, she qualified for Repechages and ranked sixth in Palembang women’s single sculls of rowing at the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games (), and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, were a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 August to 2 September 201 ...

. Abujbara also represented Qatar in the summer

2020 Tokyo Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. She qualified for the Tokyo Olympics after reaching a time of 8:20 minutes at the Asia and Oceania Rowing Qualification Championship. In July 2021, Abujbara took first place in the semi-final race to qualify for the E final of the Women’s Single Scull event at the Tokyo Olympics, which she won and placed on rank 25 overall. Tala Abujbara is also graduated from

HEC Paris HEC Paris () is a business school and ''grande école'' located in Jouy-en-Josas, a southwestern outer suburb of Paris, France. It offers Bachelor, MiM, MSc in International Finance, MBA, EMBA, executive education, professional developm ...

Recognition

On 6 July 2021, the

Qatar Olympic Committee Qatar Olympic Committee (, IOC code: QAT) is the National Olympic Committee representing Qatar. History The QOC was formed in 1979 and was granted full recognition by the International Olympic Committee in 1980. QOC's main goal is to bring worl ...

(QOC) announced that Tala Abujbara was appointed the first Qatari female athlete to represent Qatar in Rowing at the Olympic Games. On 22 July 2021, the QOC announced that Tala Abujbara, along with Mohammed Al-Rumaihi, would raise Qatar’s flag at the opening of the Tokyo Olympics. The first Olympics edition was where two athletes carried their country’s flag.

References

External links

* * 1992 births Living people Qatari female rowers Olympic rowers for Qatar Rowers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Place of birth missing (living people) HEC Paris alumni Williams Ephs athletes Williams College alumni College women's rowers in the United States Rowers at the 2018 Asian Games 21st-century Qatari sportswomen {{Qatar-rowing-bio-stub