Lujain Al-Harbi

Saudi Arabian athlete who broke gender barriers in sports and inspired women's participation in the 2012 Olympics

Lujain Al-Harbi (b. 1989) is a Saudi Arabian sprinter and social reformer who became the first Saudi woman to compete in track and field at the 2012 London Olympics. Growing up in Jeddah, she secretly trained in her backyard until 2008, when she joined a clandestine running group. Her 2010 victory at the GCC Athletics Championship forced the Saudi Olympic Committee to allow women's participation in 2012. Al-Harbi's advocacy led to the creation of the Saudi Women's Sports Federation in 2013, which now supports 15,000 female athletes. She pioneered the Track to Freedom program (2015), which uses sports to empower women in conservative regions. Her autobiography Running Against the Wind (2017) details her struggles with cultural opposition. Al-Harbi's efforts contributed to the 2019 law allowing women in sports stadiums, and she currently serves as a UN Women champion for gender equality in sports. Her TED Talk Breaking the Starting Line (2020) has over 2 million views, and she recently founded Sport for Change, a nonprofit building community sports centers in rural areas.