Syrian Refugees on the Olympic Refugee Team

By Alyssa Kristeller

Link to International Olympic Committee (IOC) Refugee Team promotional video: https://youtu.be/XdT0WXB5K8U

The Refugee Olympic Team is participating in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games with 29 athletes, from 11 different countries, competing in 12 sports. Out of these 29 athletes, 9 are refugees from Syria [1]. These are their names and stories:

Ahmad Alikaj was born and grew up in Aleppo, Syria before the war. He found refuge in Germany where he continued training for judo and obtained the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Refugee Athlete Scholarship. He joined the International Judo Federation (IJF) Refugee Team at the 2019 Budapest Grand Prix [2]. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, he competed in the -73kg category in the first fight of the day on July 26 against Somon Makhmadbekov of Tajikistan [3].

Ahmad Baddredin Wais was born in Aleppo and began cycling with his brothers at the age of 14 [4]. He moved to Damascus to train with the Syrian national team and soon became the most successful junior rider in Syria and was the first junior to compete on behalf of Syria in the World Championships in Moscow, Russia. In 2014, Wais fled Syria and, after a long journey, sought refuge in Switzerland, where he continues to train and compete in international cycling events. He also obtained the IOC Refugee Athlete Scholarship and, despite placing last in the men’s time trial at the Tokyo Olympics, crossed the finish line with a smile on his face [5].

Alaa Maso was primed to take up swimming at a young age as his father was a swim coach in Aleppo, Syria [6]. In 2015, after their training facilities were damaged in the war, Maso and his brother Mohamad fled to Europe and settled in Germany, where they continued to train full time. Alaa obtained the IOC Refugee Athlete Scholarship and was added to the Tokyo roster in early June 2021. On July 30, Maso finished fourth in his 50m freestyle heat with a time of 23.30s, a new personal best [7].

Aram Mahmoud is the only player on the IOC Refugee Team competing in the badminton event. Mahmoud is originally from Damascus and he began playing badminton with his sister at the age of seven [8]. He left Syria in 2015 for the Netherlands, where he found solace and friendship through playing his sport. Mahmoud competed in his Tokyo Olympics opening match on July 24 and lost against Jonatan Christie of Indonesia with a score of 21-8 for the first game and 21-14 in the second [9]. He is proud of his improvement as a player throughout the Olympic journey and hopes that he will serve as a source of inspiration to other refugee athletes.

Muna Dahouk is from Damascus and started judo at the age of six, alongside her sister, and with their father, a judo sensei, as their teacher [10]. The family fled Syria for the Netherlands after the outbreak of war and the death of their father [11]. Muna and her sister Oula both competed for the IJF Refugee Team and Muna received the IOC Refugee Athlete Scholarship. Her first match as a -63kg judoka was on July 27 against Maylin del Toro Carvajal of Cuba, who beat Dahouk after 38 seconds.

Sanda Aldass is a 31-year-old mother of three from Damascus and another member of the IOC Refugee team competing in judo [12]. In 2015, Aldass escaped from Syria leaving behind her husband (also her coach) and young son [13]. She arrived in the Netherlands and lived for six months in a refugee camp until eventually the family was reunited and continued to grow in Almere, a town outside Amsterdam, welcoming two more children in later years. Aldass competed in the 2019 and 2021 World Judo Championships as part of the IJF Refugee Team. Managing a balance between her family and her sport has proved to be a challenge, but she has never given up her Olympic dream, especially with the urging of her children for her to go to the Olympics. On July 26, Aldass made her Tokyo debut in a match against 21-year old Marica Perisic of Serbia, who beat Aldass with 1:31 on the clock.

Wael Shueb is from Damascus, Syria, where he used to work in a textile factory and as a karate coach, and he was the 2009 Syrian national karate champion [14]. In 2015 he began his perilous journey as a refugee which included reaching Turkey by way of a rubber boat and riding a bike through Macedonia, and he eventually made it to Germany where he now lives, trains, and teaches karate [15]. While he is grateful that his sport has helped him feel integrated into a new society, he struggles with the effect of the war on his family back home - his brother-in-law was killed and faces difficulties in communicating with his sister and her children. Shueb received an IOC Refugee Athlete Scholarship in 2018 which has helped fund his karate training, and he is a proud competitor in the first-ever Olympic staging of the sport in Tokyo. The karate matches are scheduled to start on August 5th and run through the 7th, so watch for Shueb’s Olympic debut!

Wessam Salamana competed in the boxing event as a member of the Syrian national team at the 2012 Olympics in London and is back to compete in Tokyo for the IOC Refugee Team [16]. He began boxing at the age of 15 and was living in the countryside of Damascus with his wife and children until he left Syria in 2015 and sought refuge in Germany. He continues to train and compete in German national competitions and he finds that his sport helped him to integrate into his new community. He competed on July 25 and was defeated in the men’s 57-63kg preliminary round of the boxing competition by Wanderson de Oliveira of Brazil [17].

Yusra Mardini - is a swimmer from Damascus, Syria, who first competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics as a member of the first-ever IOC Refugee Team [18]. Yusra and her sister left Damascus in 2015 on a perilous journey that involved the two young women jumping into the water to pull a boat with 20 people and a broken motor to the coast of the island of Lesbos, Greece [19]. Eventually, they made it to Germany, which is where Yusra and her family reside today and where Yusra trains for swimming. She competed on July 24 in the women’s 100m butterfly event with a time of 1:06.78, which did not qualify her for the semi-finals [20]. Despite reaching the end of her Tokyo Olympic journey, Yusra has another passion and purpose to attend to advocate for refugees. In 2017, at the age of 19, she was appointed the youngest UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and uses this position to bring light to the plight of refugees across the world.

Sources

Photo: Tokyo Opening Ceremonies

Syrian Refugees on the Olympic Refugee Team

Iranian Refugees on the Olympic Refugee Team

Terrorism and Refugees: A Perpetual Cycle of Instability

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