Abdulrahman Suleiman (born 10 January 1984) is a

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

middle-distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 1 ...

who specialises in both the

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

and

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') 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 Athletic ...

. He was the 2002 Asian champion over 1500 m and represented Qatar at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Biography

Born in Qatar, he was the second of his family to enjoy success in professional

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

, following in the footsteps of his older brother Mohamed Suleiman who was Qatar's first ever Olympic medallist.Mohan, K. P. (2002-08-12)
Abdulrahman keeps up family tradition; China maintains superiority
''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

''. Retrieved on 2010-09-04. Suleiman began competing internationally at youth level: he ran in the 800 m heats of the

1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics The 1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics was the first edition of the IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics. It was held in Bydgoszcz, Poland from July 16 to July 18, 1999. Results Boys Girls Medal table External links Offic ...

and reached the event final at the

2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2000 World Junior Championships in Athletics were held in Santiago, Chile between 17 and 22 October 2000. Results Men Women Medal table Participation According to an unofficial count through an unofficial result list, 1122 athle ...

the next year. His first medalling performances soon followed, although they came over the longer 1500 m distance – a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

at the 2001 World Youth Championships paved the way for his

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

at the 2002 World Junior Championships. Suleiman broke into the global elite at the age of nineteen later that year, taking a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

at the

2002 Asian Athletics Championships The 14th Asian Athletics Championships were held in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 9–12 August 2002. Results Men Women Medal table See also *2002 in athletics (track and field) ReferencesMedalists at GBR Athletics Nasser Suleiman Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

) won a

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

medal at the same competition and Abdulrahman said of his 1500 m win "I am proud to have kept up a 12-year-old family tradition". The performance at the continental championships earned him a 1500 m place on the Asian team at the

2002 IAAF World Cup The 9th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was hosted by Madrid, September 21–22, 2002, in the Estadio La Peineta. The IAAF worl ...

. His brother Mohamed was the 1992 champion of the competition, but the younger Suleiman did not scale such heights and finished in seventh place. He represented his country on the Olympic stage at the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, but he did not manage to progress beyond the heats stage. At the

2005 Asian Athletics Championships The 2005 Asian Athletics Championships were the 16th edition of the international athletics competition between Asian nations. It was held in Incheon, South Korea between 1–4 September 2005. Results Men * The original bronze medalist, An ...

he completed a Qatari 1–2 in the 1500 m with

Majed Saeed Sultan Majed Saeed Sultan ( ar, ماجد سعيد سلطان; born Elijah Kosgei on November 3, 1986, in Kenya) is a middle-distance runner now representing Qatar after switching from Kenya. He specializes at the 800 metres, a distance where he became 20 ...

and Suleiman's runner-up time of 1:44.73 was a new personal best. He ran at the

2006 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 11th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) was held in Moscow from March 10 to March 12, 2006 in the Olimpiyski Sport arena. The announcement by the IA ...

and set a Qatari indoor record over 800 m with a time of 1:47.58. He finished fifth in his semi-final, thus he did not make the cut for the 800 m world final. He represented his continent in the 1500 m for a second time at the

2006 IAAF World Cup The 10th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event, held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, which took place on 16 and 17 September 2006 at the Olympic Stadium in Athe ...

, and again he was the seventh-place finisher. That year at the

Memorial van Damme The Memorial Van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, that takes place in late August or early September. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now the final event of the Diamond L ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Suleiman teamed up with

Salem Amer Al-Badri Salem Amer Al-Badri (birth name Moses Chirchir; born 12 December 1985 in Kenya) is a retired middle-distance runner who competed internationally for Qatar mostly in the 800 metres event. He jointly holds the Asian record in the rarely contested 4 ...

and

Abubaker Ali Kamal Abū Bakr ( ar, أبو بكر ) is an Arabic given name meaning "Father of a Young Camel" (Abu meaning 'Father of' and Bakr meaning 'Young Camel') that is widely used by Sunni Muslims. Other transliterations include Abu Bakar, Abu Bekr, Ebubekir, ...

to form a Qatari 4×800 metres relay team. The

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

n team ran a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

time but Qatar's fourth place in 7:06.66 (four seconds behind) was a new Asian record for the uncommon event.Memorial Van Damme (Bruxelles, 25 Aug 2006) - 4x800m relay
.

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

. Retrieved on 2010-09-04. Suleiman has not competed internationally since 2006.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Suleiman, Abdulrahman 1984 births Living people Qatari male middle-distance runners Olympic athletes of Qatar Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for Qatar