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Palestinian Runner Training for Olympics
By IBRAHIM BARZAK
Associated Press Writer
DEIR EL BALAH, Gaza Strip --
Sanaa Abu Bkheet has qualified for the 800-meter-run at the Athens Olympics
against great odds: she owns only one pair of running shoes, has no access to
a track and used to get pelted with rocks during her training rounds in the
streets of her hometown.
The 19-year-old is one of two Palestinians who will compete at the Aug. 13-29
games in Greece. The other athlete is 17-year-old Raad Aweisat, a swimmer from
Jerusalem who has qualified for the 100-meter butterfly.
Abu Bkheet is something of an oddity in the impoverished, conservative Gaza
Strip. The sight of the tall, thin woman running through the streets of this
ramshackle town in her green track suit used to cause a mini-uproar, and
children at times would throw rocks at her as she zipped past.
"It's not easy to be a runner in Gaza, especially for a female," she said.
"It's strange because of our traditions. It's hard to see a girl running in
the streets."
But she's since won the support of her neighbors, joyful that one of their own
will carry the Palestinian flag before the world at the Olympics. Now,
admiring children crowd around her. And after she came in first among the
women runners in a local track meet on Friday, a Palestine TV news crew rushed
for an interview.
Palestinians gained International Olympic Committee recognition in 1993 after
the signing of Israeli-Palestinian interim peace accords. A Palestinian team
competed at their first Olympics in Atlanta in 1996.
Abu Bkheet, a middle-distance runner, will be the first female runner to
represent Palestinians at the Olympics. Her best time in the 800-meter race is
2:28.11.
She took up running at age 12, and her training amounts to this:
Each morning she downs a teaspoon of olive oil - said by generations of
Palestinian matriarchs to bring good health - and sets out on 90-minute
training runs in a simple pair of generic, no-name running shoes. Without a
proper track, she jogs along dirt roads that nearly disappear among the
shifting sand near the Mediterranean coast. Her 17-year-old sister Wesam and
three other girls from her extended families come along for company.
The runners often dodge Israeli army checkpoints and hear not-so-distant
gunfire.
"I know it is a big responsibility to be the first Palestinian woman runner in
the Olympics and to represent Palestine," Sanaa said. "I know it's going to be
very hard to win."
She lives with four sisters and two brothers in a small house with a roof of
corrugated metal sheeting. In the living room hang medals she's won in
competitions in Gaza, Egypt, Jordan and Iran in the past three years.
Her idol is Maria Mutola of Mozambique, the reigning 800-meter Olympic
champion.
On Friday in Gaza City, Abu Bkheet came in first for the women in a local
track meet. Handing her a medal and trophy, the awards announcer referred to
her - hopefully and with pride - as the "Olympic champion." Her mother kissed
her.
On the back of the runner's plain red T-shirt was the word: "Palestine."
William E Bragg
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