Ruqaya Al-Ghasra

Ruqaya Al-Ghasra or Rakia Al Gassra (; born September 6, 1982), is a retired Bahraini athlete. She was one of the first women to represent Bahrain at the Olympic Games, by taking part in the women's 100 metres sprint at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

She won medals at the 2006 Asian Games and went on to run at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2009 World Championships in Athletics.

Al-Ghasra announced her international retirement in 2009, although it was revealed later in July 2010 that she had failed an out of competition doping test and she was banned from competing for two years (between September 17, 2009, and September 16, 2011).

Career 2004 Olympic debut ESPN stated that Al-Ghasra "overcame the objections of fundamentalists in her village" to participate. She ran with a head scarf and her body fully covered. A time of 11.43 seconds would have enabled her to qualify for the following round. By 2006, she had improved her time to 11.34 seconds.

In 2003, Al-Ghasra had won gold in the 100 metre and 200 metre races at the Arabian Championships in Lebanon.

In 2004, prior to the Olympics, she won three silver medals, in the 60 metre, 200 metre and 400 metre races, at the Asian Indoor Championships in Iran. She also represented Bahrain in the 400 metre event at the World Indoor Championships in Budapest. In 2007, she was scheduled to take part in the Pan Arab Games in Egypt, the Asian Championships in Lebanon and the IAAF World Championships in Osaka.

In 2008, Al-Ghasra won gold in the 60 metre race at the Asian Indoor Championships in Doha, setting a new championships record with a time of 7.40 seconds. She was her country's flagbearer at the Games' opening ceremony.

At the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, she reached the quarter-finals of the 100 m, and the semi-finals of the 200 m, recording season's bests of 11.49 and 23.26 seconds respectively, although these results were later disqualified to an anti-doping ban. At the end of the year, she announced her retirement from international athletics at the age of 27, to much surprise. She said that she came to the decision following consultation with doctors and specialists, who advised to take a long period off in order to undergo treatment and improve her general health. However, it was revealed in July 2010 that Al-Ghasra had failed an out of competition doping test and she was banned from competing for two years (between September 17, 2009, and September 16, 2011).