Palestinian swimmer Yazan Al Bawwab’s sole Olympic race lasted less than a minute but just being in the water was a statement in itself.
The 24-year-old Dubai-based swimmer pointed to a Palestinian flag on his chest as he explained what it meant to represent a homeland not just lacking a pool but struggling for basics like food and water.
“France does not recognise Palestine. Yet here I am with a flag on my chest,” he said after finishing third in a 100 metres backstroke heat that proved to be his first and last swim of the Paris Games.
“I’m very, very happy … to raise my flag, to have 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.
France said in May that conditions were not right to officially recognise a Palestinian state and any decision must be more than symbolic or political posturing.
More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, say local health authorities.
Israel launched its military action in response to a Hamas-led attack in southern Israel in October. About 1,200 people were killed and 250 were taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attack, according to Israeli tallies.
The only Israeli swimmer in the 100 backstroke was in a later heat to Al Bawwab and their paths did not cross.
Al Bawwab, an aerospace engineer born in Saudi Arabia, educated in Canada and Britain, living in Dubai where he runs a furniture business and also half-Italian, said his father had been a homeless refugee in Italy before rebuilding his life.
“I look at people like my dad who came from nothing,” he said. “I’m never complaining in the pool, I remember people in Gaza, people in Palestine that suffer properly. I don’t mind if I’m waking up at 5am. It’s not a problem.”
The twice Olympian spoke of the consequences of conflict.
“A lot of people don’t want us to be here. They don’t want to see the flag. They don’t want to hear my country’s name,” he said. “They don’t want me to exist. They want me to leave. But I’m here.”
He said, without naming anyone, that some people had shown hostility to the six-strong Palestine team at other competitions.
“People telling us to ‘take off your flag, take off your shirt. We don’t want to see Palestine on it’,” he said. “Imagine if it was your country.”
Al Bawwab said an Asian Games roommate, a team coach, had been killed in Gaza. A young fan who sent a message of support was also dead.
A runner friend had posted photos of himself “bandaged up, trying to eat some rice”.
“I don’t like to comment too much on that. But just know this is the reality of a Palestinian swimmer, a Palestinian athlete. We all have stories,” he said.
Al Bawwab mentioned Gaza 100kg weightlifter Mohammad Hamada who had lost 20 kg “because he didn’t have food” and failed to qualify.
“We’re trying to educate people about how to swim and teach … but there’s a war going on,” he said. “What are you supposed to do when there’s a war? You can’t talk to people.”