Palestine sends eight athletes to Paris Olympics in show of ‘resistance’
A small ceremony was held to send off Palestine’s official delegation to the Paris Olympics on Sunday, as well as to recognise the many Palestinian athletes who will not be present.
Jibril Rajoub, head of the Palestine Olympic Committee, said 400 athletes, coaches and sporting officials have been killed in Gaza since October.
“Through this participation, we want to present the suffering of the Palestinian people and the unprecedented killing taking place in Gaza,” Rajoub said. “We want this participation to be a message from the Palestinians to the world that it is time for them to be free in their homeland,” he added.
Eight athletes will represent Palestine this year, competing in athletics, swimming, archery, taekwondo, judo and boxing.
The athletes will represent Palestine at a “very dark moment in our history”, said Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin in Ramallah on Sunday. “You are not just athletes, you are also … symbols of Palestinian resistance,” Aghabekian added.
Palestine’s Olympics delegation held a small ceremony in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Sunday
‘My heart aches’: Palestinian Olympic swimmer
Palestinian-US swimmer Valerie Tarazi, 24, is one of eight athletes representing Palestine at the Paris Olympics.
“My heart aches for them,” Tarazi said of Palestinians in Gaza. “Being in Paris on behalf of Palestine is a very important thing, and taking part in a global swimming competition at a time when there are no places to train is surreal,” she said.
Palestinian athletes have taken part in the Olympics since 1996, when long distance runner Majed Abu Marahil competed in Atlanta.
Marahil died in Gaza in June after not being able to get treatment for kidney failure at the besiege enclave’s devastated hospitals, officials said.
Palestinian-US swimmer Valerie Rose Tarazi speaks during the send-off ceremony for the Palestine delegation to the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games in Ramallah city in the occupied West Bank on Sunday
