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IT is great news to hear the kingdom's very own Ruqaya Al Ghasra will be leading the Bahraini delegation at the opening ceremony of the Olympics due in two days' time.
This column applauds all those who nominated Ruqaya to be the flag-bearer. I am proud to say that on 08-08-08 I will be glued to the television screen and waiting anxiously for Ruqaya to march Bahrain through the opening ceremony.
The reason Ruqaya is so inspirational is that, as a 100m and 200m sprinter, she is Asia's top athlete in her field. Not only is she the best, but she also competes while her body is fully covered and with her hair veiled.
She represents every girl, and boy for that matter, who dreams of making it big one day in whatever endeavour they choose.
She has proven that religion and culture can no longer be used as an excuse or as a 'block' to making dreams come true. She has faced adversity during her career but time and time again she had overcome it.
It was a pity that she came in fifth during her heat at the Athens Games but hopefully she will be able to bag the gold medal for herself and for Bahrain.
It is in my hope that by competing, she will be able to cast aside the stereotypes many Westerners have that Bahraini and Islamic women are mostly uneducated and are stripped of their rights.
I would like to say I will be supporting the other athletes such as Rasheed Ramzi and Maryam Jamal in their bid for Olympic glory.
