Palestinian Olympic swimmer hopes for sporting chance

Palestine's Yazan Al Bawwab reacts after a heat of the men's 100m backstroke swimming event during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Paris La Defense Arena in Nanterre, west of Paris, on July 28, 2024. (AFP)

PARIS: Palestinian swimmer Yazan Al Bawwab hopes his appearance at the Paris Olympics will help boost opportunities for athletes from the war-torn territory.
Al Bawwab, 24, who was born in Saudi Arabia and lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, competed in the heats of the men’s 100m backstroke on Sunday.
It is his second appearance in the Olympics, following on from Tokyo, and he has two gold medals from the Arab Games.
And while his time at La Defense Arena was not enough to see him qualify for the semifinals, he hopes his presence on the global stage will highlight the plight of Palestinians who want to compete in top-level sport.
“I have a time just for Palestine, a lane just for Palestine. I think this is my message of peace. We’re trying to get the world to know that we’re human beings. I can play sports like everybody else,” he told reporters after his race.
“I look like a kid from Gaza and the thing is, because of sports you listen to me, and you care about what I say, but nobody cares about what people in Palestine say, so this is my message of peace.
“Please treat us as human beings, we deserve the same rights as everybody else, and we want to play sports like everybody else,” he said.
Al Bawwab swam with a small Palestinian flag painted on his chest and said that the presence of the team and their flag at the Games had prompted reactions.
“Honestly, 95 percent positive,” he said.
“We have a lot of people surprised that we’re even here, they’re surprised how Palestine could qualify to a competition like this, having no food and water in their country.”
However he said some other athletes had “made fun of us.”
“We’ve had, in other competitions, people telling us to take off our flag, take off your shirt, we don’t want to see Palestine on it,” he said
“Imagine if it was your country? But hey, I’m Palestinian and I’m proud, and I don’t care if somebody doesn’t want me to wear my flag, you know, deal with it,” he added.
Al Bawwab said he has had relatives and friends who have been killed during the conflict with Israel.
“I’m not going to talk about the atrocities of what happened to them, but just know I’ve had family members being killed, but I’m here,” he said.
Al Bawwab, who studied in Canada and the United Kingdom and whose parents have Italian citizenship, has been involved in an organization which aims to improve facilities for Palestinian swimmers.
“We don’t have a pool in Palestine but if we start building sports infrastructure it can give a way out for a lot of people it can make them smile for at least five minutes a day,” he said.