How Bahrain buys its Olympic medals
All of Bahrain's Olympic medals have been won by naturalized African athletes. Meanwhile, the kingdom is also stripping citizenship from Bahrainis it deems disloyal to the monarchy.
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Ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games, Bahrain’s Olympic chiefs announced that they are sending their best-ever team to Paris.
"This time we have a special group of athletes in Paris, the best ever to represent Bahrain," National Olympic Committee Vice-President Sheikh Issa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa told Reuters.
"Bahrain achieved strong results in the last Asian Games and came out with a total of 12 gold medals, three silvers and five bronze medals. It confirms we have a strong base and a positive indicator to win medals in Paris."
The Gulf kingdom will feature a delegation of 14 athletes, including eight females. 11 of the athletes are also foreign born, underscoring the authoritarian regime’s longstanding strategy of importing athletes to bolster its Olympic medal count.Â
Bahrain made its Olympic debut at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles , and has participated in every subsequent (summer) edition of the event, most recently at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The kingdom has won a total of four medals at the Olympics; two gold and two silver, all of which were won by naturalized African long-distance runners.
Bahrain's first medalist was Ethiopian-born Maryam Yusuf Jamal, who won a bronze in the women's 1500 meters at the 2012 London Games. Jamal was later upgraded to a gold medal after the initial gold and silver medalists were disqualified. Four years later in Rio de Janeiro, Ruth Jebet and Eunice Kirwa, both originally from Kenya, secured Bahrain's first gold and silver medals. Jebet won gold in the 3000m steeplechase, while Kirwa took silver in the marathon. Ethiopian-born Kalkidan Gezahegne followed up by winning a silver medal in the 10,000m race at the 2020 Tokyo Games.Â
Now, the kingdom’s attention turns to Paris, where several of their foreign imports are favourites to win medals. Kenyan-born Winfred Yavi is among the favourites in the women's 3,000 metres steeplechase after being crowned world champion in 2023, while Dagestani-born freestyle wrestler Akhmed Tazhudinov won the world title in the men's 97kg class last year.
"Tazhudinov has prepared well for the Olympics and hopes to add an Olympic medal to Bahrain's haul," said Abdulredha Abdulhussain Haji, President of the Bahrain Wrestling Federation. "We are all optimistic that he will achieve remarkable results in Paris after winning world championship gold in Belgrade. He has been in sensational form this year and last year."
While Bahrain is not the only country to import foreign athletes to specifically to boost its medal count—Qatar, the UAE and Turkey have also been known to use the same strategy—the kingdom’s approach stands in stark contrast to its policy of revoking citizenship from dissidents and opposition leaders who are deemed a threat to the ruling regime.Â
Structured as a modern Arab monarchy, Bahrain’s political scene is dominated by the ruling Al Khalifa family. By 2010, well over half the cabinet positions within the administration were occupied by blood relatives of the incumbent King Hamad Al Khalifa. This inherent lack of political freedom and equality for the Shia population played a pivotal role in the 2011 Bahraini uprising, which was part of the Arab Spring wave of revolutionary protests across the Middle East and North Africa.
Thousands gathered in Manama, the country’s capital, to protest for increased rights and a democratic political system able to account for Bahrain’s seemingly invisible Shia majority. This resulted in deadly clashes between government forces and protesters. With the help of Saudi Arabian troops, Bahrain was able to forcefully restore order and cement the monarchy before proceeding to crack down on all forms of dissent. Peaceful demonstrators were imprisoned, while others were tortured and exiled from their homeland.Â
Among the names accused of human rights abuses at the time was King Hamad’s son Sheikh Nasser Al Khalifa, who served as the president of Bahrain’s Olympic Committee during that period. Sheikh Nasser reportedly used his powerful positions to weed out athletes who took part in the protests; around 120 athletes—27 of whom were on Bahrain’s national teams—were arrested, and some were said to have been tortured.
Since then, Bahrain has continued to crack down on all forms of dissent. The revocation of citizenships is among its favoured tactics dating back to 2012, when the kingdom revoked the nationality of 31 citizens. Hundreds of Bahrainis have since been stripped of their nationality, leaving many stateless.Â
Meanwhile, the kingdom continues to rely on sport as a means for political gain — a mechanism to distort reality and present a fabricated image of peace and prosperity on the international scene.
Since becoming the first Gulf Arab state to host a Formula-1 race in 2004, it has continued to find new ways to transform its image from that of a relatively unknown island nation to a destination location for tourists and sports enthusiasts. Recognizing its lack of presence at the Olympic Games, for example, Bahrain began to offer passports to athletes from Africa and other locations in an attempt to secure their first medals, which they did in 2012—months following the crackdown on Arab Spring protesters.Â
The current president of Bahrain’s Olympic Committee is Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Sheikh Nasser’s brother and the architect of Bahrain’s longterm investment in combat sports.Â
In 2015, Sheikh Khalid financed the development of the Island nation’s first fully functional MMA fight club and training facility, known as KHK MMA. He also founded Bahrain’s first MMA promotion, Brave Combat Federation, which has since emerged as the most prominent MMA organization in the Arab world.
Originally a military man, Sheikh Khalid became fascinated with martial arts, taking it upon himself to foster their development in his country. Apart from being the president of Bahrain’s Olympic Committee, he has personally competed in a pair of amateur MMA fights and regularly trains at the KHK facility.Â
Sheikh Khalid has also utilized his MMA fight club and organization as a means to improve diplomatic ties with dictators such as Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov, whom Sheikh Khalid hosted in Bahrain as part of an exchange between KHK MMA and Kadyrov’s Akhmat MMA fight club.Â
The trend of naturalizing foreign-born athletes extended to Sheikh Khalid’s MMA institutions, as several of KHK’s coaches and fighters later became citizens and represented Bahrain at various international events. Bahrain will now rely on this strategy again as it aims to secure more medals in Paris.Â
Meanwhile, the tragic irony facing these naturalized athletes is that they serve as representatives for a country that both exploits the cheap labour of their fellow countrymen while revoking citizenship from local citizens whom they deem a threat to the stability of the monarchy. As they stand on the podium, basking in the glory of their achievements, they also embody a nation that uses sport as a tool for soft power and citizenship as a means to separate the useful from the disloyal.
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