Dalma Malhas, chairperson of the athletes’ advisory committee

Dalma Malhas

Equestrian Dalma Malhas was recently appointed chairperson of the newly founded athletes’ advisory committee at the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee.
She was the first female athlete to represent Saudi Arabia at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010 in Singapore. Malhas won a bronze medal, becoming the third Saudi athlete to snag an Olympic medal.
She is also the first female athlete to have represented Saudi Arabia at the World Equestrian Games at Tyron, in North Carolina in the US in 2018.
Malhas’ appointment to the SAOC committee follows Saudi Arabia’s formal bid to host the 21st Asian Games in 2030 in Riyadh.
The Saudi horsewoman, who speaks Arabic, English, French, Italian, and Spanish, was born in Ohio in 1992. Her mother, Arwa Mutabagani, is also a prominent equestrian and has been a board member at the Saudi Equestrian Federation since 2008.
At 12, Malhas moved with her mother from Saudi Arabia to Rome. In Italy, she received training from Italy’s former showjumping national coach, Duccio Bartalucci. She spent a decade under his tutelage.
After spending a few years in Rome and obtaining her International Baccalaureate, she moved to undertake a two-year professional training program at the Fursan Equestrian Center in Chantilly, France. She has been training with Olympic champion Roger Yves Bost since 2016.
Malhas has participated in many international horseback riding events. However, when the experienced horsewoman took part in the 2019 Diriyah Equestrian Festival for the first time, she said it was a rendezvous she had been dreaming of for a very long time.
She told Arab News that she was honored to be part of the Saudi national team after “years of work and dedication.”
Malhas has won several awards to date, including Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Creative Sports Award.
She has also attended several regional and international conferences on sports as a speaker.