Majed Abu Maraheel
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Native name | ماجد•أبو مراحيل |
| Born | 5 June 1963 Nuseirat, Gaza Strip, Palestine |
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1] |
| Weight | 76 kg (168 lb)[1] |
| Sport | |
| Country | Palestine |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event | Long-distance running |
| Coached by | Nabil Mabrouk[2] |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best |
|
Majed Abu Maraheel (Arabic: ماجد•أبو مراحيل, romanized: Mājid ʿAbū Marāḥīl, also romanized Majdi Abu Marahil, Majed Abu Marahil, Majid Marheel; born 5 June 1963), is a retired Palestinian long-distance runner and athletics coach who was the first Palestinian to compete at the Olympic Games. Born to a refugee family in the Gaza Strip, Abu Maraheel worked as a day laborer in Israel before pursuing athletics. He self-trained as a long-distance runner at Gazan streets and beaches, becoming locally famed after winning a variety of local competitions. After winning an 8-kilometre race in 1995, he was recruited by Palestinian National Authority leader Yasser Arafat into Force 17, his personal security force.
Abu Maraheel competed in the 1995 Arab Athletics Championships, barely able to attend the event after a lengthy detainment by Egyptian border authorities. The following year, he represented Palestine at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, becoming the country's first Olympian and Olympic flag-bearer. He competed in the men's 10,000 meters, ultimately eliminated after placing 21st in his qualification group. He retired following the games, later serving as an athletics coach to Palestinian Olympic runners Bahaa al-Farra and Woroud Sawalha.
Early life[edit]
Majed Abu Maraheel was born on 5 June 1963, to a family of Palestinian refugees at the Nuseirat camp in the Gaza Strip. His family lived at Beersheba and owned fifteen acres (6.1 ha) of land in the Negev before they were forced to flee in 1948.[3]
Abu Maraheel played football as a child, initially hoping to represent the Palestinian national team. However, he dropped out of school at twelve years old and stopped playing football.[4]
He later began work as a laborer, tending flowers in Israeli greenhouses, and regularly running around 20 kilometres barefoot from his home in Gaza City to catch a bus at the Erez border checkpoint.[5] During these runs, he began considering athletic running to represent Palestine in international competition.[6]
In 1991, during the First Intifada, he was caught in the crossfire and hit in the arm by an Israeli soldier's bullet, penetrating the bone and leaving a 3-inch (7.6 cm) scar.[5][7]
Career[edit]
Abu Maraheel trained by himself without a coach, initially wearing improper running shoes and using a Casio wristwatch to time his runs along Gazan streets or beside the Mediterranean on Al Deira beach.[6][2] He competed in and won many running competitions in Gaza, garnering him a considerable degree of local fame, to such a degree that many locals began requesting photographs with him.[8]
In June 1995, he competed in an Olympic Day festival held in Gaza by the Palestinian Ministry of Youth and Sports.[9] He won his division, an 8-kilometre race against 500 other men, receiving a trophy and kiss from Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian National Authority and senior leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, during the awards ceremony. Arafat reportedly told Abu Maraheel "You will now be with Force 17". He returned a kiss to Arafat and agreed to join the force. Nabil Mabrouk, president of the Palestinian Track and Field Federation and member of the Palestine Olympic Committee (POC), served as his coach following the victory, the two alternating between training on the beach and at Yarmouk Stadium.[2][3]
Two months later, Abu Maraheel competed at the 1995 Arab Athletics Championships in Cairo, Egypt. He ran in the men's 10,000 m event alongside Yasser Ali-Dib, a Palestinian racewalker who had emigrated to Cairo.[10] Prior to the games he was detained in Egyptian border security for 10 hours, causing him to almost miss the event.[3] He arrived shortly before the event, and without prior sleep, placed tenth in 36:22.0 with Alyan Sultan Al-Qahtani of Saudi Arabia winning the gold medal seven minutes ahead of him.[10]: 38
While a multi-ethnic Palestinian Olympic Committee (including both Jewish and Arab athletes) had been recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the 1930s, it was unable to participate in the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics due to Nazi persecution. The Palestinian Authority–sponsored team competed at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, becoming the first Palestinian Olympics team to compete in the games.[11] The IOC extended recognition to the Palestine Olympic Committee in 1993, following the ratification of the Oslo Accords.[12]
Abu Maraheel and fellow long-distance runner Ihab Salama were set to compete in the men's 10,000 metres and 5,000 metres respectively. In the opening ceremony, he was chosen to be the first ever flag bearer for Palestine at the Olympic Games saying that his main purpose in the Games was "to remind the world that Palestine exists."[13] Relationships between the Olympic Committee of Israel (OCI) and POC were fairly amicable during the games, with respective committee presidents Ephraim Zinger and Muammar Bississo meeting during the opening ceremonies. The OCI officially rebuked Israeli governmental opposition to the POC competing under the name "Palestine", and Zinger extended an invitation for the Palestinian delegation to visit the OCI headquarters in Tel Aviv. Abu Maraheel and Salama shook hands, traded pins, and posed for photos with members of the Israeli delegation during the ceremony.[7]
On 26 July 1996, Abu Maraheel became the first ever Palestinian to compete in the Olympic Games,[14] running and finishing with a time of 34:40.50, almost 7 minutes behind the heat winner, Ethiopian runner Worku Bikila. Coming into 21st place in his qualification group, he did not proceed to the finals, ultimately placing as the 42nd out of 48 athletes.[15]
Retirement and coaching[edit]
Abu Maraheel retired after the Games in Atlanta and became the coach for the athletics team of the Palestine Olympic Committee. He coached runners Bahaa al-Farra and Woroud Sawalha to run in the men's 400 metres and women's 800 metres respectively at the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London.[16]
Achievements[edit]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Gaza Olympic Day Run | Gaza Strip, Palestine | 1st | 8 km | |
| Arab Championships | Cairo, Egypt | 10th | 10,000 m | 36:22.00 | |
| 1996 | Olympic Games | Atlanta, United States | 21st (sf) | 10,000 m | 34:40.50 |
References[edit]
Citations[edit]
- ^ a b "Majed Abu Maraheel". Olympedia. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ a b c Rowley, Storer (2 June 1996). "Runner Stakes Claim In New Terrain". Chicago Tribune. ProQuest 291137496. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ a b c Miller, Judith (4 April 1996). "Olympic Profile: Atlanta 1996;For Palestinian Runner, Carrying Flag Is Glory Enough". New York Times. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ Nair, Abhijit (22 May 2021). "Meet Palestine's first Olympic flag-bearer who was once shot in Israel". The Bridge. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ a b Drozdiak, William (22 July 1996). "Palestinians Make Some Strides". Washington Post. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ a b Doust, Dudley (24 March 1996). "Returning In Peace". The Sunday Telegraph. pp. 100–101. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ a b Sherman, Mark (27 July 1996). "Major Strides". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 5 January 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Rowley, Storer (6 June 1996). "Palestine, Peace On His Mind". Los Angeles Daily News. ProQuest 281672216. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ Doust, Dudley (30 March 1996). "Back on the Olympic map". Irish Times. ProQuest 310148505. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ a b "Al Batal Al Arabi(N°:42)" (PDF) (in Arabic). Arab Athletics Federation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ Khalidi & Raab 2017, pp. 1403–1406.
- ^ Khalidi & Raab 2017, pp. 1412–1413.
- ^ "Police Impersonator Attended Ceremonies". The Spokesman-Review. 23 July 1996. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
- ^ Khalidi & Raab 2017, p. 1403.
- ^ "Palestine at the 1996 Summer Olympics". Olympedia. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
- ^ "Gaza athlete sets sights on Olympics". Al Jazeera English. 13 February 2012. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
Bibliography[edit]
- Khalidi, Issam; Raab, Alon K. (2017). "Palestine and the Olympics – A History". International Journal of the History of Sport. 34 (13): 1403–1417. doi:10.1080/09523367.2018.1461622. ISSN 0952-3367.
