A living hub for the people of Palestine — those who shaped it, and those who stood with it.

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Path 18 of 20

Faces of Palestinian Sports

Step into the dynamic arena of Palestinian sports, where athletic prowess and competitive spirit unite under a banner of national pride.

  • 20 athletes
  • Born 1965–1999
  • 6 from Gaza
The crowd at Dura stadium for a Palestine World Cup qualifierThe crowd at Dura stadium for a Palestine World Cup qualifier
Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, al-RamFaisal Al-Husseini International Stadium, al-Ram
Photos: TrickyH (CC BY-SA 4.0), Mujaddara (CC BY-SA 3.0), via Wikimedia Commons

About Sports

Playing for a flag.

Palestine first competed at the Olympic Games in 1996, when the runner Majed Abu Maraheel carried its flag in Atlanta. Since then Palestinian athletes have gone to every Games, often after training without proper tracks or pools, or the freedom to travel.

The national football team reached the Asian Cup for the first time in 2015. Nader al-Masri ran at two Olympics from Gaza, Mayada Al-Sayad carried the flag in Rio in 2016, and the footballer Mahmoud Sarsak’s hunger strike in an Israeli prison drew support from players around the world.

The people in this path run, box, swim, play and coach. Many were born in the diaspora and chose to compete for Palestine.

All 20 athletes

Every face in Sports, from the earliest pioneers to the voices of today.

Born across the decades

Tap a decade to filter · 2 without a recorded birth year

  1. 1960s
  2. 1970s
  3. 1980s
  4. 1990s

20 athletes