Eight Palestinian athletes are competing in the Paris Olympics. While the war between Israel and Hamas is underway in Gaza, these champions are experiencing a competition that cannot remain purely sporting.
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At the 2024 Paris Olympics, eight Palestinian athletes have qualified in disciplines ranging from boxing to taekwondo, judo to shooting, athletics and swimming. In the midst of the war in Gaza and with around 400 Gazan athletes having died in nine months, the participation of these Palestinian athletes is not just sporting, it has become political.
Palestinian swimmers have been represented in international competitions for twenty years. “It’s almost an achievement in itself,” despite the obstacles, the restrictions on movement, the lack of infrastructure, explains Raed Uleimi, president of the Palestinian swimming federation.
“All swimmers who have some potential or a future in the discipline are told to go abroad. There is no Olympic swimming pool in Palestine.”
Raed Uleimi, President of the Palestinian Swimming Federationto franceinfo
This year, two Palestinian swimmers are competing in the Games: Yazan Bawab and Valerie Tarazi. The 24-year-old Palestinian grew up in the United States. For her, the Olympics are an opportunity to fly the flag for her country and bring media attention to her people in Gaza. “I’m getting ready to swim in Paris, she testifies, But I watch the news and I see people swimming to retrieve humanitarian aid that has fallen into the sea. I’m swimming for a competition, they’re swimming to survive, risking their lives, drowning. Many have died.”
She insists: her Olympic Games are not just for sport, they are above all for Palestine.