Athletes from conflict zones outside the spotlight find hope at the 2024 Olympics

PARIS (AP) — When they compete at the Paris Games, they’re just athletes at their peak. The emphasis is not that they're coming from regions ravaged by war.

The Olympics — focused on celebrating peace — has brought together 10,500 athletes, including those from countries where 110 armed conflicts are raging. These are conflicts that often are not grabbing attention as the wars in Gaza and Ukraine dominate headlines.

For instance, Cameroon had six athletes in Paris; Myanmar had two, a swimmer and a badminton player; Libya, beset by militia conflict since the Arab Spring uprising in 2011, sent six athletes.

Wars — from Yemen to Syria and beyond — have indelibly shaped athletes from those places who think of the 2024 Olympics beyond sports.

For some, it’s a chance to highlight forgotten human rights violations. For others, it’s a declaration of hope for peace or a chance to reinvent themselves and leave a war-torn past behind.

Yemen: ‘Remnants of sports’

When 16-year-old Yemeni swimmer Yusuf Marwan dove in to an expansive pool in Egypt, where he trained for 20 days before Paris, it was a stark contrast to the 11-meter pool at home. Overwhelmed by the water’s pressure, he realized he couldn’t swim properly. An Olympic-sized pool is 50 meters long.

A yearslong civil war in Yemen has left about 80% of sports facilities non-operational, forcing some federations to rent modest training venues without proper infrastructure, according to the Yemeni Olympic Committee, which helps with the costs.

In 2014, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels seized much of northern Yemen and forced the internationally recognized government to flee from the capital, Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year in support of government forces, and in time the conflict turned into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The war in Yemen has killed more than 150,000 people since 2014 and created a humanitarian disaster.

“Preserving the remnants of sports remains a challenge. This situation has significantly diminished youth engagement in sports,” said Akram Al-Ahjri, international relations manager of Yemen’s Olympic committee.

Just four Yemeni athletes were competing, decreasing their chances of winning medals but prompting them to see the Olympics as beyond competition.

Yemen's Olympic committee has support from the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic Council of Asia but not from either Yemen’s recognized government or the Houthi rebels.

“We are also sending messages of love, peace, friendship, solidarity,” said the administrator of Yemen’s Olympics delegation, Shaif Abdullah Al Shawafi. “Our aim is to participate and show our culture, our history to all people around the world.”

For Marwan, his determination overcame the water pressure of the pool after weeks of training in Egypt and Paris.

In the first heat of the men’s 100-meter butterfly last week, he steadily began to fall behind and finished last. But Marwan didn’t feel defeated: He beat his previous best result with a time of 1:08.72.

“I didn’t even know I would set such a record,” he said after the competition. “Competing with top athletes pushes me to achieve new results.”

It was too expensive for his parents to travel to Paris, but they took pictures of him competing on TV and messaged him, “bravo.”

Syria: ‘They will have bigger hope’

Yahya Al Ghotany, 20, was a child when he fled Syria in 2012, during an escalation of a civil war that has now spanned 14 years. He spent most of his life in a refugee camp in Jordan, where he learned taekwondo.

“It is such an amazing feeling, I cannot describe it in words, being here, carrying the flag, especially when I recall that six years ago, I was only dreaming of becoming an Olympian,” he said.

During the opening ceremony, Al Ghotany proudly held the Refugee Olympic Team’s flag aloft on a boat sailing along the Seine River. It was a far cry from the young boy who used to watch other kids practice taekwondo before he found the courage to sign up for it.

His coach, Asif Sabah, said that he saw a champion in him because of his motivation: At his first training, Al Ghotany sparred in his normal clothes because he didn't have the uniform.

But there was something else that drew Al Ghotany to sports — the opportunity for a better life not only for him but for other kids at the refugee camp.

“If I do well, with good results, they will have bigger hope, to practice and dream and even to participate in the Olympics,” he said. “This is an extra point of strength for me.”

And mental strength is crucial when practicing taekwondo, he said.

“Wherever I am, wherever I can be, I just need to be comfortable mentally,” Al Ghotany said about what he needs for a good practice.

Ahead of his bouts this week, he didn’t want to speak about the sensitive topics of his past life in Syria or not competing under the Syrian flag. The country is represented by six athletes at the 2024 Olympics.

“I feel like I’m readier than ever. Practice is going great,” Al Ghotany said. “And the most important thing is that mentally, I’m ready, and I feel good mentally.”

Afghanistan: Girls ‘need the support of the world’

Afghan sprinter Kimia Yousofi drew attention at the Paris Games by running with a bib with handwritten words spelled as “Eduction” and “Our Rights.”

“Lots of things have happened since Taliban came to power,” she said, pointing to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. “And I think the world has forgotten about Afghan girls.”

Yousofi wanted to remind the world that under the Taliban, Afghanistan has become one of the most repressive places for women and girls, stripping them of nearly all their basic rights.

“Afghan girls also need the support of the world,” she said. “They cannot do interviews, they cannot talk, they cannot say to Taliban that they don’t want them.”

Yousofi said she wants to be their voice. She can because she fled Afghanistan when the Taliban took back control as the U.S. withdrew its troops, around the time of the Tokyo Games in 2021. Yousofi, who was born and grew up in Iran after her parents left Afghanistan, had gone back to train in Afghanistan and now lives in Australia.

“I lost my country again,” she said.

The exiled Afghan National Olympic Committee operates outside of Afghanistan to support athletes, and only one competitor of six traveled to Paris from Kabul, while the rest live abroad, Yousofi said.

The Taliban haven’t just banned sports for women and girls, they have intimidated and harassed those who once played.

“I have passed (a) challenging time in the last three years, it was so bad,” she said. “Everyone, not only me, has also got depression and anxiety.”

But she decided to keep moving, she told herself: “Have a hope, be powerful, and encourage others as well.”

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AP writer John Leicester contributed from Paris.

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AP Olympics coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games