“We will do better than in Tokyo.” Nader Jayousi hammers it home throughout the interview: the Palestinian Olympic committee has not given up and, despite the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian flag will fly on the Seine on July 26 during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. And the technical director of the committee hopes to beat the record for athletes present, set at 5 in Japan.

Athletes, like all Palestinians, have paid a heavy price in the conflict. “Between athletes, coaches, club staff, the Palestinian sports scene has lost at least 170 people,” explains Nader Jayousi, recalling that this figure is most likely underestimated given the difficulty of communicating with Gaza and count the dead. Among them are Olympic football team coach Hani al-Masdar and volleyball star Ibrahim Qusaya. "To these tragedies are added the destruction of infrastructure: the Yarmouk stadium, the headquarters of the Olympic committee in Gaza, several stadiums... IF the war stopped today, at least 70% of the Gazan population would be homeless, so let's not even talk about places to play sports," he recalls. 

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Nader Jayousi is aware that the ongoing tragedy has shattered plans for the 2024 Olympics, while an athlete assistance and monitoring program had been put in place for the first time in their history in the competition. However, he believes in the resilience of his athletes. Last month, taekwondist Omar Ismail showed the way by winning a ticket for the Games in March 2024. If, with preparation truncated by the war, many athletes will have to hope for an invitation from the IOC to be present, Nader Jayousi believes.

France 24: What impact did the start of the war between Israel and Hamas and the invasion of Gaza have on the objectives of the Palestinian Olympic committee

?  

Nader Jayousi:

Sport has been at a standstill in Palestine since October 7. When the events took place, we were with our delegation in China for the Asian Games in Hangzhou. And we were making history, with Hala Alqadi's bronze medal in karate.

Since then, we have spent our time trying to ensure the security of the delegation. We are aware of the reality, but we are still trying to achieve our goal. For the first time, we implemented an Olympic preparation program to qualify athletes. However, the shutdown came at the worst time. The last year before the Olympics is the most important time of the Olympic cycle. So a stoppage of more than six months at this time is devastating for our athletes. We tried to adapt by shortening the list of athletes we follow and we continue to work.

This shows that we take this seriously. We have been present at the Olympic Games since the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. We managed to obtain historic qualification in taekwondo. Thanks to God, we managed to achieve our goal. And we did a qualification, a direct qualification in Paris. It is already historic [it is only the second time in Olympic history that a Palestinian will owe his presence to a qualification and not to an invitation, Editor's note].

What are the concrete consequences of the war on the work of the Olympic committee?

For 40 days, we did everything so that our weightlifting champion, Mohammed Hamada, and his coach, who is also his brother, could get out of Gaza. He was a junior world champion and very close to qualifying for the Olympics. Unfortunately, when the tragedy began, he was living in northern Gaza. He was in one of the first areas that was invaded.

Mentally, he is very strong. He even continued training for the first month. There are videos of him training at home amid the noise of planes and drones... But the famine started in Gaza and he lost around fifteen kilos. Which is huge for a weightlifter…

We helped him get out of Gaza. We applied on his behalf for an invitation in case he failed to qualify for the tournament in Thailand.

This is one example among others, but it gives an idea of ​​how much more the Olympic committee must now do. But it is our duty to do so. We are at the service of athletes to put them in the best performance conditions.

How do athletes manage to keep a

cool head

and focus on the Games in this context?

It's something we built. They are aware and mature enough to understand that what they are doing is not an individual dream. Our athletes learn that they do not represent themselves. They represent our country, our history and our cause.

It is the base of our Olympic pyramid. This is the message that the president of our Olympic committee, Jibril Rajoub, repeats 24 hours a day to our athletes. We convey this message to all our athletes, to all our juniors. We are trying to transform them into human beings who are aware of the cause they represent, who understand what it means to be Palestinian and who understand what symbols our athletes should be.  

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This is how our athletes stay focused and keep a cool head. We have been living this for 75 years. If we allowed ourselves to be disrupted, we would be defeated in two days. We have to be very strong mentally. We will be at the Olympics.

What support have you received since the start of the war

?

We were supported by our brotherly Arab countries, who hosted training camps for our teams. Our footballers trained in Saudi Arabia and were able to achieve a historic performance last January, reaching the round of 16 of the Asian Cup. Some of our athletes train in Kuwait, in Doha… We have massive support from countries who believe in the Palestinians' aspiration to distinguish themselves in the field of sport, and support us in this approach.

As far as the IOC is concerned, we are in contact with them. President Thomas Bach himself declared that he would do everything possible for Palestine to participate in the Paris Olympic Games. He considers it very important that we are present, like any country. We respect this position. We also renewed our commitment to the Olympic Charter, 100%, and to the IOC regulations.

The last two years have also been marked by the invasion of Ukraine and calls for the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Games. The IOC rules out a similar scenario for Israel

: do you regret it

?

As an Olympic committee, we avoid getting involved in political matters. We prefer to focus on sport.

We will not comment on the presence of Russians and Ukrainians. And regarding the presence of the Israelis at the Olympics, it is not a subject of discussion with us. If our political leaders want to go into this area, they will talk about it in the media.

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At the Olympic committee, we are there to put our athletes in the best possible conditions.

The Olympics could see a Palestinian face an Israeli on the field

. Is this a topic of discussion within the committee

?

Do you think we get nervous about meeting Israelis? We meet them in our cities, in our schools. They stop us in the street. Usually they are armed. So, such a meeting at the Olympics is not a matter of concern for our athletes.

We know it can happen, but we are here to do our own job. We are here to compete and represent our country in the best way possible.

What  does

the presence of your flag on

July 26 at the opening ceremony

mean to you

? 

In the midst of all these atrocities and massacres, people will see men and women determined to see their dreams come true.

I think this will be a great message of peace for the whole world, which would show them what the Palestinians could look like in the future. But also a message for our next generations, for our children who have lost their dreams, who have seen their dreams shattered by bombs and rockets. These children will see role models who have managed to go to the Paris Olympic Games and qualify for the taekwondo competitions at the Paris Olympic Games. It will be a historic moment!

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