“I am here for the real competition, not just to participate,” Waseem Abu Sal, 20, from Ramallah, the first Palestinian boxer at the Olympics, told Euronews in an interview. Of the eight Palestinian athletes who have competed at the Olympics, only two still reside in Palestine.
With the exception of the refugee teamthe Palestinian team will be the only one at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games whose The majority of athletes live outside their home country.
Of the eight athletes, six were born or currently reside abroad – in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Germany, Chile and the United States.
Training in Palestine has become almost impossible following the war between Hamas and Israel.
According to the technical director of the Palestinian Olympic Committee, among the 38,000 victims of the war, about 300 were athletes, referees, coaches and other sports personnel.
Only two athletes from the Palestinian Olympic team remained in Palestine: runner Mohammed Dwedar from Jericho and featherweight boxer Wasim Abu Sal from Ramallah.
Hamas-Israel war ‘destroyed’ Palestinian sports generation’s ‘dream’
Wasim Abu Sala is the first athlete in history to represent Palestine at the Olympic Games.
Although he is only 20 years old and has already won two international medals, he explained to Euronews that it had not been easy.
He trained in Palestine during the war and will return home while the conflict is likely still ongoing.
“For me it has always been very difficult because in Palestine there are not many other athletes to train with or interact with, but I never gave up.”
“Before the war, I participated in the Asian Championships. It was nice to be there with other athletes from the diaspora, from Gaza and the West Bank. In the end, they became like brothers to me. But some of them died in the war. Another, a young boxer, lost an eye during the occupation, and with him, his dream.”
Long-distance runner Majed Abu Maraheel is one of the most prominent Palestinian athletes to have lost his life in the war. He became the first Palestinian to compete in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
He died of kidney failure earlier this year after being unable to receive treatment in Gaza or be evacuated to Egypt, according to Palestinian authorities.
“I’m at the Olympics for the real competition, not just to participate”
The eight Palestinian athletes at the Olympics will compete in boxing, judo, swimming, shooting, athletics and taekwondo.
Only one Palestinian athlete, Omar Ismail (taekwondo), qualified for the Paris Games as such. The other seven secured their places through a system of wild card issued within the framework of the quotas of places for universality.
Backed by the International Olympic Committee, the system allows athletes representing poorer nations with less established sports programs to compete, even if they do not meet the sporting criteria.
But Abu Sal doesn’t care how he qualified, thanks to a wild card. What matters to him is what happens next.
“I am the first Palestinian boxer to participate in the Olympic Games. I have the wind at my back, I am not just a participant, but a competitor,” he told Euronews.
No Palestinian athlete has ever won an Olympic medal.
We will fight until the last second
The head of the Palestinian Olympic Committee, Nader Jayousi, said that Winning medals was not the athletes’ top priority who went to Paris.
“We are here to show our Palestinianism,” he said. “We are determined to fight until the last second, which is what we have been doing as a nation for 80 years.”
“We had very high hopes of going to Paris 2024 with qualified athletes,” said Jayousi, the team’s technical director.
“We have lost many opportunities due to the complete shutdown of all activities in the country.”
Yazan Al Bawwab, a 24-year-old swimmer born in Saudi Arabia and living in Dubai, said he does not expect recognition for his performances in the pool. He uses swimming as a “tool for Palestine.”
“Do you know how many approved swimming pools there are in Palestine? Zero,” said al-Bawaab, who noted that the Palestinian economy is too small and fragile to support the development of elite athletes.
“There is no sport in Palestine. We are a country that does not have enough food or shelter, and we are trying to find a way to stay alive. We are not a sporting country yet.”
Pope Francis said Sunday he hopes the 2024 Olympics will be “an opportunity to establish a truce in wars” as he called for peace in conflicts around the world.