The Most Famous

ATHLETES from Saudi Arabia

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This page contains a list of the greatest Saudi Arabian Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 6,025 Athletes, 3 of which were born in Saudi Arabia. This makes Saudi Arabia the birth place of the 99th most number of Athletes behind Eritrea, and Namibia.

Top 9

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Saudi Arabian Athletes of all time. This list of famous Saudi Arabian Athletes is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

Photo of Khaled Al-Eid

1. Khaled Al-Eid (b. 1969)

With an HPI of 34.95, Khaled Al-Eid is the most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages on wikipedia.

Khaled Al-Eid (Arabic: خالد العيد; born January 2, 1969) is a Saudi Arabian equestrian who won a bronze medal in individual jumping at the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Photo of Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily

2. Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily (b. 1976)

With an HPI of 31.11, Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily is the 2nd most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily (Arabic: هادي صوعان الصميلي, born December 30, 1976, in Ta'if) is a Saudi Arabian athlete. He won the first Saudi silver medal in the Olympics in the 400 metres hurdles, clocking a personal best time of 47.53 seconds in 2000 in Sydney. US sprinter Angelo Taylor won the race and the gold medal in 47.50 seconds.

Photo of Tareg Hamedi

3. Tareg Hamedi (b. 1998)

With an HPI of 24.60, Tareg Hamedi is the 3rd most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Tareg Ali Hamedi (Arabic: طارق حامدي; born 26 July 1998) is a Saudi Arabian karateka. He represented Saudi Arabia at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. He won the silver medal in the men's +75 kg event after being disqualified for knocking out his opponent with an illegal kick. He is an eight-time medalist, including four gold medals, at the Asian Karate Championships. He is also a gold medalist at the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Games and a two-time bronze medalist at the Asian Games.

Photo of Abderrahman Samba

4. Abderrahman Samba (b. 1995)

With an HPI of 23.19, Abderrahman Samba is the 4th most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Abderrahman Almoubarrake Samba Alsaleck (born 5 September 1995) is a Qatari male track and field athlete who specialises in the 400 metres hurdles. He was born and raised in Saudi Arabia but chose to represent Mauritania – his father's homeland – before eventually switching allegiance to Qatar and moving to Doha in 2015. He became eligible to compete for his adopted country in May 2016. He was the second person to run the 400m hurdle event in less than 47 seconds. Samba placed seventh at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics on his global debut. He appeared suddenly on the elite athletics scene, having run modest sprint times in 2016 before winning the 400 m hurdles race at the Qatar leg of the 2017 IAAF Diamond League, beating Olympic champion Kerron Clement. He ranked eighth in the world that season with his new personal best of 48.31 seconds. In February 2018, he won a 4 × 400 metres relay gold medal with a Qatari team of Mohamed Nasir Abbas, Mohamed El Nour and Abdalelah Haroun at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships. Then, in the Summer season, he ran the 400 m hurdles in 46.98, the second fastest time ever, at the Meeting de Paris. and won two gold medal at the Asian Games in Indonesia in 400 metres hurdles and 4 × 400 metres relay. In April 2019, he won the gold medal in the 2019 Asian Athletics Championships in 400 hurdles and, after being injured through Summer, in October the bronze medal at the World Athletics Championships. He was elected best athlete in Asia at the end of the year.

Photo of Santiago Álvarez

5. Santiago Álvarez (b. )

With an HPI of 0.00, Santiago Álvarez is the 5th most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  Their biography has been translated into different languages.

Santiago Álvarez may refer to: Santiago Álvarez (general) (1872–1930), Filipino revolutionary general Santiago Álvarez (filmmaker) (1919–1998), Cuban filmmaker Santiago Álvarez (rugby union) (born 1994), Argentine rugby sevens player

Photo of Sulaiman Hamad

6. Sulaiman Hamad (b. 1994)

With an HPI of 0.00, Sulaiman Hamad is the 6th most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Sulaiman Hamad (Arabic: سليمان حمد; born 19 May 1994, in Jeddah) is a Saudi judoka. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the men's 66 kg, in which he was eliminated in the second round by Davaadorjiin Tömörkhüleg. He was the flag bearer for Saudi Arabia at the Parade of Nations. In July 2021, Hamad competed in the men's 73 kg event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

Photo of Tahani Alqahtani

7. Tahani Alqahtani (b. 1999)

With an HPI of 0.00, Tahani Alqahtani is the 7th most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Tahani Alqahtani (Arabic: تهاني القحطاني; born 3 August 1999) is a Saudi Arabian international level judoka. Alqahtani qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics. She participated at the 2021 World Judo Championships. She was eliminated from 2020 Olympics after losing to Israeli counterpart Raz Hershko. The match gained notability for Tahani agreeing to compete against an Israeli athlete, which was never done before in the history of Saudi Arabia's Olympics participation despite boycott pressure.

Photo of Ali Al-Khadrawi

8. Ali Al-Khadrawi (b. 1997)

With an HPI of 0.00, Ali Al-Khadrawi is the 8th most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into different languages.

Ali Al-Khadrawi (Arabic: علي الخضراوي; born 31 May 1997) is a Saudi Arabian table tennis player. He competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Photo of Alana Smith

9. Alana Smith (b. )

With an HPI of 0.00, Alana Smith is the 9th most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  Their biography has been translated into different languages.

Alana Smith may refer to: Alana Smith (tennis) Alana Smith (skateboarder) Alanna Smith, basketball player

People

Pantheon has 9 people classified as Saudi Arabian athletes born between 1969 and 1999. Of these 9, 9 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Saudi Arabian athletes include Khaled Al-Eid, Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily, and Tareg Hamedi. As of April 2024, 6 new Saudi Arabian athletes have been added to Pantheon including Tareg Hamedi, Santiago Álvarez, and Sulaiman Hamad.

Living Saudi Arabian Athletes

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Newly Added Saudi Arabian Athletes (2024)

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