Born and raised in Dubai, Emirati athlete Shahad Budebs was given the title of the global representative of CrossFit at the CrossFit Games 2019 and is the first female from UAE to be given the title.
24-year-old Budebs has been representing the UAE this year at the CrossFit Games, which took place in Madison, Wisconsin, America, as the first Emirati woman to compete. Not only has she managed to obtain the title, she has also been busy diminishing stereotypes as she was crowned United Arab Emirates National Champion at the closing ceremony.
Shahad took to Instagram to share the news of her latest accomplishment, captioning, “I’m speechless and beyond blessed! I came, I represented and I will come back again! This is a message to all the Arab women. We can be national athletes and we can reach to high-level competitions! We are here and we will come back stronger!”
Not only is Shahad a CrossFit pro, she was also a member of the UAE National Football Team and was also given the title of the Fittest Emirati Woman 2019. During the NAS challenge, she once again, came in at 1st place in the UAE Women’s Category. The NAS Challenge is a 5 km run and is supported by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Following her love for football, Budebs developed a passion for CrossFit in 2017 and hasn’t looked back since she competed in her first competition. She’s an inspirational Arab athlete with hopes to encourage other Arab women to participate and succeed in sports that are mostly male dominated in a bid to help change the status quo and banish gender stereotypes.
