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go through Robert Inlekshi
The Palestinian team has already made history for the country at the 2024 Paris Olympics, competing with a record eight players in six different sports.
Despite the suffering in Gaza and the loss of opportunities for athletes killed, injured or directly affected by the war, the Palestinian team is striving for its first Olympic medal.
Amid calls for the Olympics to ban Israel from the 2024 Paris Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has ignored the call and disqualified the only country currently accused of genocide by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Instead, the IOC decided to continue to ban Russian and Belarusian athletes from representing their countries, forcing them to compete independently and banning them from flying their national flags.
The glaring double standard has prompted human rights activists to call for an investigation into the racism underlying the shameless practice and sparked plans for public demonstrations in France.
The first Palestinian taekwondo athlete will compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Please support us.
-Omar Yasser Ismail Player Instagram https://t.co/1xmOH2HOk3
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-Full event (English)https://t.co/ckvUNEqJlG#BanIsrael #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/mpmNFcre9G
— 🍉 Palestinian Peace Solidarity – BDS Korea 🇵🇸 (@pps_kr) June 16, 2024
Although the horror of the Gaza attack is still fresh in the mind and the Palestinian national team is aware of Israel’s discriminatory attitude towards war crimes, the athletes hope to make their people proud and bring home the first Olympic medal for Palestine.
“I made history by becoming the first Palestinian taekwondo athlete to qualify for the Olympics. I am very proud and happy to have made it this far,” said Omar Yaser Ismail, 18, from Jenin, after becoming the first athlete to represent Palestine at the Olympics and meet the official Olympic criteria.
All other athletes will have to qualify via a wildcard play-off. “I’ve dreamed of this moment since I was a kid. I’m happy to imagine myself in Paris among the best athletes in the world. It’s great to fly my flag on the podium,” said the young Olympian, who will continue to compete in the under-58kg taekwondo heavyweight category after defeating athletes from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan at the Asian Qualifying Tournament in Tai’an, China.
🇵🇸Palestinian runner Mohammed DWEDAR defied all odds to set a personal best in the men’s 800m race in Budapest. At least he had something to be proud of❤️ pic.twitter.com/nh2kEIcNGa
— Goalazo.9 (@Goalazo9) August 22, 2023
Palestinian athletes will compete in boxing, judo, swimming, shooting, athletics and taekwondo. Wasim Abu Sar, a 20-year-old from Ramallah, will compete in the lightweight boxing category (under 63 kg), with his first match on July 28. He told AFP that he had dreamed of returning home to win an Olympic medal since he was 10 years old, “Every day I wake up and think about how to participate in the Olympics.”
In track and field events, Mohammed Devidar will represent Palestine in the men’s 800m sprint, while Leila Masri will compete in the women’s 800m sprint.
Two Palestinian swimmers will also compete in Paris. They are Valerie Tarazi, who will compete in the women’s 200-meter individual medley, and Yazan Bawab, who will compete in the men’s 100-meter backstroke. Tarazi, a Palestinian-American with relatives in the Gaza Strip, said: “We are not here to compete for ourselves or to represent ourselves as individuals.”
🇵🇸 Palestinian-American Olympic swimmer Valerie Tarazi discusses what it means to wear the Palestinian flag on your swim cap as an Olympic swimmer
“We hold the flag high to represent the millions of oppressed Palestinians around the world.” pic.twitter.com/5jot7ACYlm
— Khalissee (@Kahlissee) July 21, 2024
Regarding the war, she stressed that she is one of the luckiest Palestinians in the world, but she also longs to be with the people of Gaza and said the current situation “is weighing on us every day.”
In skeet shooting, Jorge Antonio Salhe, 49, will also represent Palestine, while Fares Badawi, 27, from the occupied West Bank, will represent Palestine in Paris in the under-81kg judo category.
Unfortunately, Palestinian athletes were also deprived of the right to participate in sports competitions this time.
20-year-old Palestinian weightlifter Mohammad Hamada made history by becoming the first ever #Palestinians Won the gold medal in the men’s 102kg team snatch at the Tokyo Olympics. pic.twitter.com/PQS2inzafj
— Wafa News Agency – English (@WAFANewsEnglish) May 10, 2022
For example, Mohammed Hamada, a weightlifter from the Gaza Strip who had competed in the 102 kg (225 lb) category at the 2020 Olympics, was forced to give up his bid. Although he managed to flee Gaza and make his way to Egypt, he was forced to leave his homeland and remain stranded in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, where he lost about 20 kg (40 lb) due to lack of food and other horrors of the war.
Additionally, Palestine’s most famous Olympian, long-distance runner Majed Abu Maraheel, who became the first Palestinian to compete in the Olympics at the 1996 Atlanta Games, died during the Gaza War when Israel denied him much-needed medical treatment.
(Palestine Chronicle
– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, author and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine. He wrote this article for the Palestine Chronicle.
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