Since its establishment in 1979, the QOC has been pivotal in fostering sports awareness in the Gulf State, a testament to Qatar’s growing sports culture. 

The Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) held a ceremony to celebrate its 45th anniversary, marking decades of crowning achievements.

QOC’s President Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani, and several other Qatar officials, including Minister of Sports and Youth Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Thani, honoured the country’s athletes, including those who won medals at the first Gulf Youth Games hosted by the United Arab Emirates earlier this year.

In his opening speech on Tuesday, the Secretary-General of the QOC Jassim bin Rashid al-Bueinain applauded Qatar’s rising talent.

“The founding of the Qatar Olympic Committee on March 14, 1979, marked the beginning of the process of developing the sports movement in Qatar, leading to the sporting renaissance we are experiencing today, full of achievements at various levels,” he said.

“Over the years, we have witnessed a qualitative leap in Qatari sports, facilitated by the distinguished leadership who served as presidents of the QOC, along with the sincere efforts of all employees,” he added.

Medals and global sporting events

Under the QOC, Qatar has witnessed many triumphs, as in the case of the 1992 Summer Olympics when Mohamed Suleiman achieved Qatar’s first Olympic medal by coming in third in the 1,500-metre race at the tournament in Barcelona.

Suleiman’s bronze medal marked the first-ever such award for an athlete from the Gulf region.

At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Asaad Saeed Saif won Qatar’s second bronze medal in weightlifting in the 105kg category.

Mutaz Barshim won silver in the high jump at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics. Four years later in Tokyo, Qatar topped the overall standings of Arab countries, with Barshim and weightlifter Fares Ibrahim winning gold medals.

Qatar made headlines when it became the first Arab country to host a major sporting event – the 15th Asian Games – in December 2006.

A few years later, Qatar was awarded the rights to the FIFA World Cup 2022 organisation, becoming the first Arab and Middle Eastern country to do so.

By the opening day of the World Cup, 2.95 million tickets had been sold, surpassing the 2.4 million tickets sold on the first day of Russia’s 2018 tournament.

The tournament featured a record 172 goals and a final match between Argentina and France that many pundits regarded as the greatest of all time.