Dalma Rushdi Malhas

Dalma Malhas is an equestrian. She was supposed to be the first Saudi female athlete to compete at the Summer Olympics.

When she rode at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010, she was amongst a high-profile group of speakers who addressed the recent International Olympic Committee Women and Sport conference in Los Angeles. The 20-year-old, who won individual bronze in Singapore, spoke of her hope of gender equality in all sports.

Biography Dalma Rushdi Malhas was born in Ohio in 1992.

At the age of four, Dalma began riding horses.

Malhas was set to compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. It would have been the first time a woman had represented Saudi Arabia at an Olympic Games and she would have been the only female Saudi athlete to have competed in any Olympic sport. However, Malhas was disqualified from the Games in late June for failing to meet minimum eligibility standards, according to the International Equestrian Federation.