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, 9 of which were born in Saudi Arabia. This makes Saudi Arabia the birth place of the 100th most number of Athletes behind Pakistan, and Curaçao.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 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. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Saudi Arabian Athletes.

Photo of Khaled Al-Eid

1. Khaled Al-Eid (b. 1969)

With an HPI of 44.66, Khaled Al-Eid is the most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 17 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 41.92, Hadi Soua'an Al-Somaily is the 2nd most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 16 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 Ramzy Al-Duhami

3. Ramzy Al-Duhami (b. 1972)

With an HPI of 40.93, Ramzy Al-Duhami is the 3rd most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 14 different languages.

Ramzy Al-Duhami (Arabic: رمزي الدهامي; born 5 January 1972) is a Saudi Arabian show jumping rider. He was born in Riyadh. He competed at the 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2024 Summer Olympics, and won a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Photo of Wojdan Shaherkani

4. Wojdan Shaherkani (b. 1996)

With an HPI of 38.97, Wojdan Shaherkani is the 4th most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani (or "Shaherkani"; Arabic: وجدان علي سراج الدين شهرخاني; born 1 February 1996) is a Saudi judoka who was one of two women selected to represent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She was the first woman to represent Saudi Arabia at the Olympics.

Photo of Mohammed Al-Khuwalidi

5. Mohammed Al-Khuwalidi (b. 1981)

With an HPI of 38.91, Mohammed Al-Khuwalidi is the 5th most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 14 different languages.

Mohamed Salman Al-Khuwalidi (Arabic: محمد الخويلدي; born 19 June 1981 in Dhahran) is a Saudi Arabian long jumper. His personal best jump, 8.48 metres, achieved in July 2006 in Sotteville-lès-Rouen, France. is also the current Asian record. At the global level, he competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2010 Asian Games, won bronze medals at the IAAF World Cup and IAAF World Indoor Championships, and represented Saudi Arabia at the World Championships in Athletics in 2007 and 2009. He is a three-time Asian champion, having won at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in 2004 and 2008, as well as the 2007 Asian Athletics Championships. He is coached by Messaoud Bouhouche.

Photo of Abderrahman Samba

6. Abderrahman Samba (b. 1995)

With an HPI of 37.84, Abderrahman Samba is the 6th 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 400 m 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 Kamal Bahamdan

7. Kamal Bahamdan (b. 1970)

With an HPI of 37.40, Kamal Bahamdan is the 7th most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 14 different languages.

Kamal Bahamdan (Arabic: كمال باحمدان; born 12 February 1970) is a Saudi Arabian businessman and five-time Olympic equestrian.

Photo of Yousef Masrahi

8. Yousef Masrahi (b. 1987)

With an HPI of 37.40, Yousef Masrahi is the 8th most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 14 different languages.

Yousef Ahmed Masrahi (Arabic:يوسف مسرحي) (born 31 December 1987, in Najran) is a Saudi Arabian track and field athlete, who specialises in the 400 metres sprint. His personal best time for the event (43.93 seconds), set in 2015, is the Asian record. Masrahi represented his country at the 2012 London Olympics and is a three-time participant at the World Championships in Athletics (2009, 2013, 2015). He was the gold medallist at both the Asian Athletics Championships in 2011 and at the 2014 Asian Games. Masrahi served a four-year competition ban from 2016 to 2020 for an anti-doping violation related to the use of erythropoietin (EPO).

Photo of Tareg Hamedi

9. Tareg Hamedi (b. 1998)

With an HPI of 31.50, Tareg Hamedi is the 9th most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 17 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 Santiago Álvarez

10. Santiago Álvarez (b. 0)

With an HPI of 30.18, Santiago Álvarez is the 10th most famous Saudi Arabian Athlete.  Their biography has been translated into 3 different languages.

Santiago Álvarez may refer to: Santiago Álvarez (general) (1872–1930), Filipino revolutionary general Santiago Álvarez (filmmaker) (1919–1998), Cuban filmmaker Santiago Álvarez (writer) (born 1973), Spanish writer Santiago Álvarez (rugby union) (born 1994), Argentine rugby sevens player

People

Pantheon has 14 people classified as Saudi Arabian athletes born between 1969 and 1999. Of these 14, 14 (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 Ramzy Al-Duhami. As of April 2024, 4 new Saudi Arabian athletes have been added to Pantheon including Ramzy Al-Duhami, Mohammed Al-Khuwalidi, and Kamal Bahamdan.

Living Saudi Arabian Athletes

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Newly Added Saudi Arabian Athletes (2025)

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