Sameera Al Bitar, sometimes listed as "Samira" or "Al-Bitar", (born February 21, 1990 in Jordan), is a 2-time Olympic swimmer from

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

. She was one of the first

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

women representing an

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...

country to swim in the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

, when she swam for Bahrain in the 50 metre freestyle 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), ...

. The ''New York Times'' reported incorrectly that Bitar was "Bahrain's first female Olympic swimmer"; in fact, Fatema Gerashi had represented Bahrain in swimming at the

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

four years earlier. Bitar completed the 50m race with a personal best of 31.00 seconds, enough to win her heat but not enough to advance to the next round. She again represented Bahrain at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and won her heat in the 50m freestyle. Her time of 30.32 was well ahead of second-place finisher in her heat, Benin's Gloria Koussihouede (at 37.09), but nonetheless insufficient to advance to the next round. She recently graduated from The

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

School of Business, where she majored in Finance and Sports Management.Not your average freshman
, The GW Hatchet; published 2008-10-9, retrieved 2009-07-09.

Career

Represented Bahrain in two Olympics (Athens, 2004; Beijing, 2008), five World Championships (Barcelona, 2003; Montreal, 2005; Melbourne, 2007; Rome, 2009; Barcelona, 2013), and the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bitar, Sameera 1990 births Living people Bahraini female swimmers Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic swimmers of Bahrain Swimmers at the 2006 Asian Games Triathletes at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for Bahrain