Norah Almarri

First female represents Saudi Arabia in taekwondo

Norah Almarri of Jacksonville represented Saudi Arabia in taekwondo in the Asian Games, which were held in Indonesia in August. Almarri is the first woman from Saudi Arabia to take part in an international competition in taekwondo. Her father and teacher, Saeed Almarri, is originally from Saudi Arabia. Both Norah and Saeed hold dual citizenship with Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Norah Almarri of Jacksonville represented Saudi Arabia in taekwondo in the Asian Games, which were held in Indonesia in August. Almarri is the first woman from Saudi Arabia to take part in an international competition in taekwondo. Her father and teacher, Saeed Almarri, is originally from Saudi Arabia. Both Norah and Saeed hold dual citizenship with Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Norah Almarri, a taekwondo athlete from Jacksonville, doesn’t consider herself a trailblazer.

“I’m just Norah,” she said.

However, that is not the case.

Almarri, 18, was the first female taekwondo athlete to represent Saudi Arabia in an international competition this past summer during the Asian Games in Indonesia. Almarri is the daughter of Saeed and Brandy Almarri of Jacksonville. Norah’s father, Saeed, is a native of Saudi Arabia and the owner of Olympic Style Taekwondo in Jacksonville. He is also Norah’s coach. Her mother is from Earle.

Norah began taking taekwondo when she was 2 years old and started competing in tournaments when she was 5.

“I’m an only child. … I love my mom and dad,” she said. “My dad opened his first taekwondo school in 2000, and I was born in 2000. I was basically raised in the taekwondo school. I spent a lot of time up here. I started taking taekwondo when I was 2. I’ve just kept up with it ever since. I play soccer, but taekwondo has always been my main sport.

“It gives you an adrenaline rush whenever you are competing. People are so talented, and it’s good to go and see other people compete. When you go to competitions, you see their skills and techniques. It’s a good learning experience to take from taekwondo. It teaches you self-discipline and control.”

Norah competed in competitions sponsored by the World Taekwondo Federation.

“I did competitions like two or three times a year, and I did good in them,” she said. “It was very rare when I didn’t place. I had a wonderful teacher. It was weird with him being my dad and being my teacher at the same time. In class, I didn’t know if I could say ‘Dad’ or if I should say ‘Master Almarri.’ But I like him being my coach.”

After years of competitions, Norah said, her family was contacted by the Saudi Taekwondo Federation to see if she was a citizen of Saudi Arabia.

“They were trying to expedite my citizenship so that I could compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio,” she said. ‘We weren’t able to do that with the short amount of time. The goal was to get my citizenship.”

Saeed said Saudi Arabia was getting pressure from the International Olympic Committee to start including women in Olympic-style sports.

“I believe the IOC put pressure on Saudi Arabia,” he said. “In 2012, they asked them to send females to participate in the sports, or they would ban the men from competing. That’s when Saudi Arabia started looking for females in sports. I believe they sent two females, one in track and one in judo.”

Saeed came to the United States in 1996 on a student visa. He studied computer information systems at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

“I had friends here,” he said. “It was about two weeks until school started. I sent them all my information to help me get my I-20 from the school so I could get my visa before school started.”

Saeed became an American citizen in 2014. He holds dual citizenship with Saudi Arabia.

And now his daughter Norah, who is a 2018 graduate of Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter School, does as well.

“We went to Saudi Arabia during my winter break in December 2017,” she said. “I completed my citizenship over there. They had an opportunity for me to compete in February 2018 for them, but I had already missed too much school. At that point, my goal was the Asian Games. That is how it happened.”

The Asian Games are similar to the Pan-American Games but for Asian countries.

Norah trained in Seoul, South Korea, in August, leading up to the Asian Games.

“We stayed there from Aug. 4

until Aug. 12,” Norah said. “We stayed in a hotel, and I trained at the Korean National Sports University. We trained with the students there — boys and girls. I was the only girl for the Saudi team. I trained with all the Korean girls. The training was intense.”

Norah said she trained for five hours a day, split into two sessions.

“It was crazy. … I’ve never trained like that ever,” she said. “I was thankful. I learned a lot while I was in Korea for that short time.”

The Almarris then flew to Indonesia. She trained for a week leading up to her international debut in the Asian Games on Aug. 21.

“I was training with the guys, because there was nobody else,” Norah said, referring to the Saudi men’s team.

Norah competed in only one match, which consisted of three two-minute rounds. She received a first-round bye in the 57-kilogram weight class. She was injured, and her match against Permata Cinta Nadya of Indonesia was stopped.

“In the competition, I did good, but it was sort of disappointing,” Norah said. “While in Korea, I overstretched my groin muscle. Whenever I was competing, the girl was taller than me. I was trying to reach for her head. I tore my groin muscle. We had to stop the match because I couldn’t stand on one leg to kick. My coach, my father, just decided to make the right decision and to stop it before anything worse could happen.

“It could have gotten worse. I’m glad I got out when I did, just in case. It was better to leave it at that instead of trying to push myself more than I already had and the injury worsen.”

Saeed said athletes in the international competitions are trying to raise their country’s flags.

“They don’t play around,” he said. “They don’t consider that the person is injured so they have to go easy on them.”

Norah said if other competitors “know you are injured, they take that as their advantage and try to hit where you are injured. I’ve been to competitions, and I’m the same way. If I know someone is injured, I’m going to use that to my advantage to win. The goal is to win.”

The Asian Games was the first competition Norah competed in as an adult.

“It was very nerve-racking at first because it was a whole different world,” she said. “It was my first time competing in the adult division. I had just turned 18 a few days before that. It was crazy.

“I feel like it was a big shock to me because it was my first international competition. I didn’t think it would be too big or different than regular competitions, but it was. Now I know what to expect.”

Norah said representing her father’s home country as the first female taekwondo competitor in an international competition was amazing.

“I didn’t expect it to blow up like it did,” she said. “I went in thinking, ‘I’m going to another competition, but this time, I’m getting to represent a country.’ I didn’t realize how big of an impact it actually was to that country to have a female athlete in taekwondo. People kept coming up to me taking photos. It was weird.”

During her time at the Asian Games, Norah met Mohammad bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.

“It was a big deal to them over there,” she said.

Norah was an honor graduate from Jacksonville Lighthouse. She was also captain of the girls soccer team. Wendell Scales Jr., director of college and career advising, said Norah was a motivated leader who put others before herself.

“Equality for women is such an important issue in our society,” Scales said. “[Norah] has a platform to break barriers and become an international trailblazer for other female athletes who haven’t had the opportunity. I believe she is a great ambassador for taekwondo and Saudi Arabia. She is a global citizen making her mark.

“On behalf of the Jacksonville Lighthouse community, we are so proud of her accomplishment.”

Norah said her next goal is the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. She can represent either Saudi Arabia or the United States. However, getting to the Olympics representing Saudi Arabia might be a little easier.

“The United States already has so many wonderful female athletes in taekwondo,” she said. “For Saudi Arabia, it’s something brand new to them.”

Saeed said he is honored to be Norah’s father.

“As a father, I’m very proud of her because she has put her fingerprint as the first female athlete in taekwondo for Saudi Arabia and to open the door for other females to follow in her footsteps,” he said. “I told her before, you can win a gold medal, but thousands of people will win a gold medal, but to be the first person in anything like this … that will never be taken away from you.”

Saeed also said the culture in his home country is changing under the leadership of bin Salman.

“They are making big steps in everything,” Saeed said. “The change is coming. They have opened clubs for females, opened up all sports for females to participate. The mentality of the families has changed. Before, what was holding the females back from participating in a lot of activities was the tradition and the culture. A lot of people think it’s the religion (Islam), but the religion doesn’t have anything to do with it. All the older people have passed away, and the younger generation is going to school in the United States or Canada or overseas to get their education, and they are back. So they are lifting the country up. Their minds are open. The females get more opportunity than ever.”

Norah said she is undecided on a major at UALR but is leaning toward pharmacy. However, she said, taekwondo will always be a big part of her life.

“I don’t know the future, but I’d like to do taekwondo for as long as I can,” she said. “And in the future, if I have children, they are going to do taekwondo. I’ve got to keep it in the family.”

Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.

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