Quick Facts
PiscesBiography
Saoud bin Abdul Rahman Al-Thani (born 19 February 1970) is a Qatari sports administrator and member of the ruling family of Qatar. He is the former secretary general of the Qatar Olympic Committee. He is now an ambassador of Qatar to Germany .
Biography
Born in Doha, he completed an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering at New Mexico State University in 1993 before going on to gain a masters degree in Sports Management from the University of Lyon. He served in the Qatar Armed Forces before becoming involved in national level sports administration positions.
His first major organisational projects came as Director General of the committees for the 2004 Gulf Cup of Nations and the 2005 West Asian Games, as well as being a committee member for the 2006 Asian Games. He became the secretary general of the Qatar Olympic Committee, president of the Qatar Basketball Federation and vice-president of the International Fencing Federation (FIE). He is a regular sportsman with particular interests in tennis, shooting sports, soccer and swimming.
Saoud Al Thani played a role in the winning of bids for Doha's first world level sports competitions including the 2014 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m), the 2015 World Men's Handball Championship, 2016 UCI Road World Championships, 2018 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships and the 2019 World Championships in Athletics (being the bid leader for the latter). These projects formed part of the Qatar National Vision 2030, a long-term government plan to develop the nation's economic and cultural wealth through the proceeds of its oil resources.
In response to criticism that Qatar had built world class sports facilities but had not delivered world class home-grown performers, he pointed to Qatar's small native population of 300,000 people, young athlete performances at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics, and the comparative lack of success of larger nations, such as India. He also promotes the participation of Qatari women in sport, noting the increased investment in women's sport in the country and participation of its female athletes at the 2011 Pan Arab Games and 2012 London Olympics.
In May 2015 he was replaced as Secretary general of the Qatar Olympic Committee by Thani Al-Kuwari.
He is also a director of Amyris, a firm that specialises in renewable-based products.