Shazia Hidayat (born 4 April 1976) is a Pakistani former

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete. She was the only female athlete in the

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

team competing at the

2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Her personal best for the

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 ...

is 4:58.79 minutes. She participated in athletics in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, becoming the second woman to ever represent Pakistan in an Olympic event. Born in

Chichawatni Chichawatni ( pa, , ur, ) 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 dist ...

, Punjab, she grew up in a village (49/12 L, Subhanpur) 360 kilometers south of

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

. She started running at the age of 14. She had to overcome huge obstacles to compete internationally, the main objection being raised was 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 in the predominantly Muslim country she had to train in, it had to be 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. Girls in Pakistan, when allowed to take part in sports, must wear such suits. She describes running qualifying races in the daytime in her home country where spectators were lining the sidelines not to cheer, but to throw rocks and tomatoes at her. Eventually because of threats to her safety and the lack of security in training and racing facilities, she relocated to Canada. The problems women face in sport in Pakistan is well documented. In 2011 Hidayat, also competed in the Knights of Columbus Indoor Games in

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 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. She lives in Saskatoon, having moved here from Pakistan. She currently works at the

University of Saskatchewan A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

, takes classes to further improve her English, and trains in the afternoons. She hopes to coach other female runners in the future.Prairie Messenger, 2 September 2011

References

Living people 1976 births Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Pakistan Pakistani female middle-distance runners Pakistani emigrants to Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada Pakistani Roman Catholics People from Chichawatni Punjabi people Punjabi women {{Pakistan-athletics-bio-stub