Female stars move into main spotlight

Ibtihaj Muhammad (right) of the US poses with her bronze medal from the saber team competition. [Photo/Agencies]

Women from the Middle East were more represented than ever before in Rio.

Weightlifter Sara Ahmed, wearing a sports hijab, blazed a trail by becoming the first woman from Egypt to stand on the podium, lifting 255kg to finish third.

Ines Boubakri won the Arab world's first ever women's Olympic fencing medal, dedicating her bronze to "the Tunisian women, the Arab woman ... who has her place in society".

US fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad succeeded in her ambition to show the world that Muslim-American women could compete in elite sports.

The 30-year-old from New Jersey, the first US Olympian to wear a hijab - the headscarf worn by Muslim women - during competition, won bronze in the team saber event.

Saudi Arabia's Kariman Abuljadayel, one of four women athletes sent by the conservative kingdom to Rio, competed in the 100m sprint.