The Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee (SAOC) was inaugurated in 1964 and was recognised in 1965 under the Olympic Council of Asia. And of course, embracing the Olympic movement and values through developing, promoting and protecting the Olympic Movement in Saudi Arabia, in accordance with the Olympic Charter.

From 1964 to 2020 SAOC had eight presidents starting with His Excellency Shaikh Abdulrahman ibn Abdullah Abalkhail (1964-1975), HRH Prince Faisal ibn Fahad ibn Abdulaziz (1975- 1999), HRH Prince Sultan ibn Fahad ibn Abdulaziz (1999-2011), HRH Prince Nawwaf ibn Faisal ibn Fahad ibn Abdulaziz (2011-2014), HRH Prince Abdullah ibn Musaed ibn Abdulaziz (2014-2017), His Excellency Mohammed ibn Abdulmalki Al Alshaikh (2017), His Excellency Advisor Turki ibn Abdulmohsen Al Alshaikh (2017-2019), and finally HRH Prince Abdulaziz ibn Turki Alfaisal (2019-Present).

The story started when a delegation, led by Dr Saleh bin Nassir later to be known as the first president of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee, attended the 62^nd IOC session where a vote was held to accept the membership of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee as the sole representative of the Olympic movement in Saudi Arabia, a young country back then that had big ambitions to utilize the power of the Olympic movement and sports to transform the nation. After the approval of SAOC’s membership, Dr Bin Nasser became the first president before resigning two years later.

At the beginning, SAOC was formed by 5 federations only, known as the oldest federations in Saudi which are: Saudi Arabian Football Federation, Saudi Arabian Basketball Federation, Saudi Arabian Cycling Federation, Saudi Arabian Athletics Federation, and the Saudi Arabian Volleyball Federation. In 2020, number of sports federations reached 64.