Bahrain emerged as the top-ranked Arab nation on the final medal tally at the conclusion of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil.
The Bahrainis were ranked 48th overall out of 87 countries that won a medal.
Bahrain’s final ranking can be attributed to the gold medal won by Ruth Jebet in the women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase. Eunice Kirwa added a silver medal in the women’s marathon, bringing the kingdom’s overall tally to two medals.
Jebet’s gold was the first-ever for Bahrain at any Olympic Games. Kirwa’s silver added to the silver of Maryam Yusuf Jamal, who had originally won a bronze in the women’s 1,500m at the 2012 London Games but was later promoted following the disqualification of one of her rivals.
Bahrain Olympic Committee secretary general Abdulrahman Askar described the Rio Olympics as outstanding for Bahrain.
Askar said that history has been made in Rio, as not only was Bahrain participating with its biggest ever team at the Olympics, but they also came away with their best medal haul, including Bahrain’s first-ever Olympic gold.
Askar added that he looks forward to Bahrain achieving even better results in the future, especially at the next Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020.
Other Arab countries to be classified on the final medal tally were Jordan (one gold) in tied-54th, Algeria (two silver) in tied-62nd, Qatar (one silver) in tied-69th, Egypt (three bronze) and Tunisia (three bronze) in tied-75th, and Morocco (one bronze) and the UAE (one bronze) in tied-78th.
Amongst the participating Asian nations, Bahrain were ranked behind China, Japan, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, North Korea, Thailand and Indonesia.
The United States topped the overall medal tally with 46 gold medals and 121 in all.
Meanwhile, members of the administrative team on Bahrain’s delegation have begun departing Brazil for Bahrain after taking part in the closing ceremony, held early yesterday morning, Bahrain time.
The final group of Bahraini officials is scheduled to leave Rio later this week.
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