Rio 2016: Olympic flag flies as Kuwaiti athlete wins first independent gold

The Olympic flag, center, is raised at the gold medal ceremony of the men’s double trap shooting competition in Rio de Janeiro, Wednesday. /Courtesy of Twitter

By Park Jae-hyuk

The Olympic flag was raised and the Olympic Anthem played at the gold medal ceremony of the men’s double trap shooting competition, Wednesday.

But the winner was not an athlete of the first Olympic refugee team. He was Fehaid Al-Deehani from Kuwait, which has its own national flag and anthem.

Shooter Fehaid Al-Deehani from Kuwait.

Al-Deehani, 50, could not represent his country on the podium because the International Olympic Committee suspended the National Olympic Committee of Kuwait in October 2015 over the government’s interference in sport.

Nine Kuwaiti Olympians including Al-Deehani are competing as Independent Olympic Athletes (IOA) at the Rio Games. They also carried the Olympic flag at the opening ceremony.

Al-Deehani is the first IOA gold medalist. There were only silver and bronze medalists among the group before.