Balsam Al-Ayoub
A Kuwaiti sporting champion in the professional fencing world. She has won many international titles and medals. Her journey began in the world of fencing in 1995 and she formally began representing Kuwait in 1996 and in 1999.
Balsam managed to create a unique model/structure in the world of sports in Kuwait when she participated in the first organized Fencing Championship for Women in partnership with the Sports Club for Girls and the private sector, and they also got the best winner podium stages for this, click here to learn more about it.
In 2004 she was off to the World tournaments with Kuwait Sports Club to she became the first professional Kuwaiti contract with a private sector that was approved before the partial professionalism law was enforced in 2005 by the Kuwaiti National Assembly.
Balsam competed in world championships in the international global arena and participated in the most important sports camps for fencing around the world as well as global conferences and sporting events. In 2006 Balsam focused on encouraging children to practice competitive sports and organized a summer course to learn the principles of fencing at the Kuwait Sports Club.
In 2009 she was nominated for the Ashoka fellowship for distinguished social individuals and in the same year she founded alongside her sister their company Touche for sporting development and organized sporting events around the world: Asia, Middle East, Latin America. Touche for sporting development was nominated for several awards in development of sports for including best social responsibility award, awarded to them by the Organization of Sport and Global Peace in 2011.
Balsam has penned many research studies published about sports in the Middle East, Women in sports in the Middle East, community partnerships and other studies in several international conferences, including the Women and Sports Conference of the International Olympic Committee that was hosted in Los Angeles in 2012.
Balsam has been selected for several international organizations such as the BMW Foundation for young leaders and thinkers as well as the Global Organization and the World Summit for Women. Balsam has been awarded this year an Arab Women Award in the sports field.
Balsam organized in August 2015 a sports camp for children titled “a champion among us” at the Kuwait Sports Club. Furthermore, the Japanese channel NHK released an International documentary about Balsam Al-Ayoub and told the story of her journey in empowering women and fighting for gender equality through the training and the development of children of both sexes in the sporting world.
Balsam also presented a television program on the Kuwait TV sports channel. A morning program that was aired in May 2015 and was the first Kuwaiti sports champion to break into the world of television broadcasting in the sports field.
Balsam is currently focusing on the concept of sports development and on the empowerment of women and girls through sport, gender equality, and at the present time she is working to cooperate with international organizations, as well as working to establish her foundation, the Balsam International Foundation.
Balsam obtained a bachelor’s degree in Sports and Physical Education from the state of Kuwait as well as a Diploma of Public Relations from the British Academy and a certificate in International Protocol of UNITAR from the United Nations – Geneva.
Balsam is happily Married and a mother of one child. With being a family oriented person, she continues to organize programs and sports initiatives in the State of Kuwait at the Kuwait Sports Club and has recently founded the Sports Committee and the Community and she was recently chosen to the global organization Soroptimist for its branch in Kuwait.
Balsam is known to say that: a true sporting champion is not a champion based on the number of medals and trophies that he/she has. But instead, a champion is one who contributes to society and encourages others and helps them to realize their dreams. To Balsam, a champion is one who appreciates and gives back to others unconditionally. And if you aspire to become a professional swimmer, pursuing your dreams with dedication and passion can certainly make you a champion.