 Abu Maraheel in a 2019 interview | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Native name | ماجد أبو مراحيل |
| Born | (1963-06-05)5 June 1963 |
| Died | 11 June 2024(2024-06-11) (aged 61) Nuseirat,Deir al-Balah,Gaza Strip |
| Education | Leipzig University |
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1] |
| Weight | 76 kg (168 lb)[1] |
| Sport | |
| Country | Palestine |
| Sport | Athletics, football |
Event | Long-distance running |
| Club | Al-Zaytoun Sports Club (football) |
| Coached by | Nabil Mabrouk (athletics) |
| Retired | c. 1998 (athletics), 2004 (football) |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personalbest |
|
Majed Abu Maraheel[a] (Arabic:ماجد أبو مراحيل,romanized: Mājid ʾAbū Marāḥīl,Arabic pronunciation:[maːd͡ʒidʔabuːmaraħiːl]; 5 June 1963 – 11 June 2024) was a Palestinianlong-distance runner,football player,security officer, andathletics coach, who was the first Palestinian to compete at theOlympic Games. Born into a refugee family in theNuseirat refugee camp of theGaza Strip, Abu Maraheel took part in athletics and football as a child. Before his international sporting career, he self-trained as a long-distance runner on Gazan streets and beaches, becoming locally famous after winning a variety of local competitions. After winning an eight-kilometer race in 1995, he was recruited byPalestinian National Authority leaderYasser Arafat intoForce 17, his personal security force.
Before pursuing his athletics career, Abu Maraheel was a football player for the Al-Zaytoun Sports Club. With his two brothers, he played with the team ever since its formation until switching to athletics in the 1990s. He was thecaptain and played as adefender for the team, playing in theGaza Strip Premier League every time the team had a match. Although he came out of retirement in 2004, to compete for his former team in a tournament organized in thePalestine Stadium by the Palestinian Al-Ahly Club.
In his international sporting career, Abu Maraheel competed in the1995 Arab Athletics Championships, barely being able to attend the event after a lengthy detainment byEgyptian border authorities. The following year, he representedPalestine at the 1996 Summer Olympics inAtlanta, becoming the country's first Olympian andOlympic flag-bearer. He competed in themen's 10,000 meters, ultimately being eliminated after placing 21st in his qualification group.
He retired from athletics upon completing his university education, later serving as an athletics coach to multiple runners of the Palestinian national athletics team, such asOlympiansNader al-Masri,Bahaa al-Farra, andWoroud Sawalha. He died on 11 June 2024, followingkidney failure.
Majed Abu Maraheel was born on 5 June 1963, in a family ofBedouin[2]Palestinian refugees at theNuseirat camp in theGaza Strip. His family were maize farmers and ranchers who lived inBeersheba and owned fifteen acres (6.1 ha) of land in theNegev before they wereforced to flee in 1948 by theIsrael Defense Forces due to the1948 Palestine war.[3][4] He and his family eventually lived in the district ofZeitoun.[5]
For hisprimary school education, he studied at Al-Falah Refugee School in the district of Zeitoun and was named as one of the "stars" of the school's football team. He then studied at Al-Zaytoun School for Refugees in the same district for hispreparatory school education and was also part of the school's football team, which was stated to be one of the best preparatory school teams at the time.[6] He dropped out of school at twelve years old and continued to play football, initially hoping to represent thePalestinian national team.[7] He then came back to schooling, studying at Palestine High School and Carmel High School for Boys inRimal, also taking part in both of the school's football teams.[6]
He later began work as a laborer, tending flowers in Israeli greenhouses and regularly running around 20 kilometers (12 mi) barefoot from his home inGaza City to catch a bus at theErez border checkpoint.[8] During these runs, he began considering athletic running to represent Palestine in international competition.[2] His father's interest in sports influenced him and his brothers, Mohamed and Magdy,[9] to pursue sporting careers. Abu Maraheel stated that his father would "pray toGod for my success and wait at the door to hear my result."[2]
In 1991, during theFirst Intifada, he was caught in a crossfire and shot in the arm by an Israeli soldier, penetrating the bone and leaving a three-inch (7.6 cm) scar.[8][10]
Starting at a young age, Abu Maraheel initially played football for his former school's teams. He eventually joined the Al-Zaytoun Sports Club at its founding in 1981.[11] He was the captain and adefender for the team and played alongside his brothers, Mohamed, who also played as a defender, and Magdy, who played as agoalkeeper.[9]
He played for the team in 1985 for classification matches that were organized by thePalestinian Football Association, which eventually made the team qualify for theGaza Strip Premier League, one of the twotop divisions in Palestine.[12] After his team's qualification to the league, he played on every occasion the team had a match. He retired from football onc. 1994, after switching to athletics. Though he came out of retirement in 2004, to represent the team in a summer tournament organized by the Palestinian Al-Ahly Club, which was held at thePalestine Stadium. They reached the finals, placing as the runner-up behind theRafah Services Club, with the latter winning 0–2 throughpenalty kicks.[6]
Abu Maraheel trained by himself without a coach, initially wearing improper running shoes and using aCasio wristwatch to time his runs along Gazan streets or beside theMediterranean on Al Deira Beach.[2][13] 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.[14]
Nabil Mabrouk, president of thePalestinian Track and Field Federation and member of thePalestine Olympic Committee (POC), saw Abu Maraheel in a football match in 1994 between his team and theAl-Tuffah Club. After the match, Mabrouk invited him to theYarmouk Stadium to train, with Abu Maraheel coming in the next day.[6] Mabrouk eventually served as his coach, with the two alternating between training on the beach and at the stadium.[3][13] Through Mabrouk's coaching, he won the Gaza Cross Country Championship in January 1995.[15]
He competed in anOlympic Day festival in June 1995, held in Gaza by thePalestinian Ministry of Youth and Sports.[4] He won his division in an eight-kilometer (4.97 mi) race against 500 other men, receiving a trophy and akiss fromYasser Arafat,President of the Palestinian National Authority and senior leader of thePalestine Liberation Organization, during the awards ceremony. Arafat reportedly told Abu Maraheel, "You will now be withForce 17". He returned a kiss to Arafat and agreed to join the force.[3][13]
Abu Maraheel worked for four hours a day in Force 17 and trained on the force'srifle range. He stood in the second circle around Arafat during his visits to Gaza, keeping a distance of around 50 meters (160 ft) from the president. Gaza was considered a particularly dangerous area for Arafat, due to intense opposition from the political and militant organizationHamas. Abu Maraheel said that he enjoyed his job, and that he was not in particular danger due to his presence in the second circle of security.[4]
For his first international competition, Abu Maraheel competed at the1995 Arab Athletics Championships inCairo,Egypt, in August 1995. He ran in the men's 10,000-metre event alongsideYasser Ali-Dib, a Palestinianracewalker who was born in Cairo.[4][16] Prior to the championships, he was detained byEgyptian 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, withAlyan Sultan Al-Qahtani ofSaudi Arabia winning the gold medal seven minutes ahead of him.[16] The following year, Abu Maraheel was set to compete in the1996 Paris Marathon but could not travel nor compete in the race due to the nation's closure imposed by the Israeli government.[6]
While a multi-ethnic Palestinian Olympic Committee (including both Jewish and Arab athletes) had been recognized by theInternational Olympic Committee (IOC) in the 1930s, it was unable to participate in the1936 Berlin Summer Olympics due toNazi policy. ThePalestinian Authority-sponsored teamcompeted at the1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, becoming the firstPalestinian Olympic team to compete in the Games.[17] The modern Palestinian Olympic Committee was created in 1976. The IOC extended recognition to the POC at the IOC's annual meeting in September 1993, following the ratification of theOslo Accords.[18][19]
Abu Maraheel and fellow long-distance runnerIhab Salama were set to compete in themen's 10,000 meters and5000 meters, respectively. For theopening ceremony, he was chosen to be the first everflag bearer for Palestine at the Olympic Games and said that his main purpose in the Games was "to remind the world that Palestine exists."[20] An IOC donation fund allowed the Palestinian athletes to travel to Atlanta.[21]
Relationships between theOlympic Committee of Israel (OCI) and POC were fairly amicable during the Games, with respective committee presidentsEphraim Zinger andMuammar 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 theOCI headquarters inTel Aviv. Abu Maraheel and Salama shook hands, traded pins, and posed for photos with members of theIsraeli delegation during the ceremony.[10] Athletes from both delegations later discussed how to use the event as leverage for further peace in the region. They also shared food and training advice.[22]
Both Palestinian athletes went to the Games wearingsneakers and expressed hopes for a donation oftrack shoes.[21] Abu Maraheel was described by theDaily Press as unlikely to medal at the Games due to his personal best of around 30:00 for the10,000 meters, almost three minutes behind the contemporaryOlympic andworld record. He reaffirmed that he was not seeking a gold medal, and that he was running for "peace, and only peace".[23][24] Acknowledging the long history of conflict between Israel and Palestine, he stated toSports Illustrated that greater connections between them "will be built through sports."[21]
Abu Maraheel became the first Palestinian to compete in the Olympic Games on 26 July 1996,[25] running and finishing with a time of 34:40.50, almost seven minutes behind the heat winner,Ethiopian runnerWorku Bikila. Coming into 21st place in his qualification group, he did not proceed to the finals, ultimately placing 42nd out of 48 athletes.[18] The following year, he competed in theTurin Marathon inTurin, Italy, with fellow Palestinian long-distance runnerMohamed Salama.[6]
Abu Maraheel moved toGermany in 1998 to study atLeipzig University. He was considered to be the first Palestinian student at the institution and graduated from an advanced course for a degree in theArabic language. While he was a student atLeipzig University, he competed in several races and placed as high as fifth in one of the competitions held in the nation.[6] He also studied for a certificate in athleticscoaching at the university and also went toEgypt for four additional certifications.[5]
Abu Maraheel retired from athletics after his studies at the university and became the coach for the athletics team of the Palestine Olympic Committee. He also became the vice president of thePalestine Athletic Federation,[26] and a board member and supervisor for his former football team, Al-Zaytoun Sports Club.[27] He resigned from his position as a board member and supervisor at Al-Zaytoun Sports Club on 23 May 2017.[28]
He coached the Palestinian national athletics team, including future OlympianNader al-Masri, at the1999 IAAF World Cross Country Championships inBelfast.[29] He coached a variety of other Palestinian athletic teams, including those participating at the2010 Asian Games inGuangzhou and the2019 Arab Athletics Championships inCairo.[30][31] InQatar, he trained the Palestinian runnersBahaa al-Farra andWoroud Sawalha for the2012 Summer Olympics.[32] He also coached the Palestinian team for the2017 Arab Athletics Championships inTunis, though the team could not attend due to a closure imposed by Israeli authorities.[33]
Abu Maraheel was part of an organizing committee for the Gaza Olympic Day sporting event. Supported by theUnited Nations Development Programme and the government ofJapan, the event was held at held inYarmouk Stadium on 19 November 2022, and featured performances and meetings by several national sport federations.[34]
Abu Maraheel was a practicingMuslim.[2] He was married and had eight children.[5] An area near his house in Zeitoun was bombed byIsraeli F-16 planes during the2014 Gaza War, with one of his sons, Khaled, being seriously injured when a fragment of a missile was lodged in his head.[35][36][37]
Abu Maraheel sufferedkidney failure in 2024 while at the Nuseirat camp. Prior to his death, he was hospitalized for treatment atShuhada al-Aqsa Hospital inDeir al-Balah.[38] Due to power outages and medical shortages stemming from theGaza war, medical treatment was limited, and he died on 11 June 2024, at the age of 61.[9] According toMiddle East Eye andMaktoob Media, his brother stated that he alongside his family tried to evacuate him through theRafah Border Crossing for treatment in Egypt, but could not due to theblockade of the Gaza Strip imposed by the Israeli government.[39][40]
The following table shows Abu Maraheel's performances in known local and international competitions.
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Time | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Gaza Cross Country Championship | Gaza Strip, Palestine | 1st | Cross country | [15] | |
| GazaOlympic Day Run | Gaza Strip, Palestine | 1st | 8 km | [4] | ||
| Arab Championships | Cairo, Egypt | 10th | 10,000 m | 36:22.00 | [16] | |
| 1996 | Paris Marathon | Paris, France | — | Marathon | DNS | [6] |
| Olympic Games | Atlanta, United States | 21st[b] | 10,000 m | 34:40.50 | [18] | |
| 1997 | Turin Marathon | Turin, Italy | Marathon | [6] |
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| People | |
