6/21/24, 12:02 AM Majed Abu Maraheel - Wikipedia

Majed Abu Maraheel

Majed Abu Maraheel (Arabic: ‫ماجد أبو مراحيل‬,
Majed Abu Maraheel
romanized: Mājid ʿAbū Marāḥīl;[a] 5 June 1963 – 11 June 2024)
was a Palestinian long-distance runner, football player,
security officer, and athletics coach, who was the first
Palestinian to compete at the Olympic Games. Born into a
refugee family in the Nuseirat refugee camp of the Gaza Strip,
Abu Maraheel took part in athletics and football as a child. He
worked as a day laborer in Israel before pursuing sport. He
self-trained as a long-distance runner on Gazan streets and
beaches, becoming locally famous after winning a variety of Abu Maraheel in a 2019 interview
local competitions. After winning an eight-kilometre race in Personal information
1995, he was recruited by Palestinian National Authority Native name ‫ماجد أبو مراحيل‬
leader Yasser Arafat into Force 17, his personal security force.
Born 5 June 1963
Before pursuing his athletics career, Abu Maraheel was a Nuseirat, Egyptian-
football player for the Al-Zaytoun Sports Club. With his two occupied Gaza Strip
brothers, he played with the team ever since its formation until Died 11 June 2024
switching to athletics in the 1990s. He was the captain and (aged 61)
played as a defender for the team, playing in the Gaza Strip Nuseirat, Deir al-
Premier League every time the team had a match. He retired in Balah, Gaza Strip
the 1990s after switching sports to pursue athletics. He came Education Leipzig University
out of retirement in 2004, to compete for his former team in a Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
tournament organised in the Palestine Stadium by the
Weight 76 kg (168 lb)[1]
Palestinian Al-Ahly Club.
Sport
In his international sporting career, Abu Maraheel competed Country Palestine
in the 1995 Arab Athletics Championships, barely being able to
Sport Athletics, Football
attend the event after a lengthy detainment by Egyptian border
authorities. The following year, he represented Palestine at the Event Long-distance
1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, becoming the country's running
first Olympian and Olympic flag-bearer. He competed in the Club Al-Zaytoun Sports
men's 10,000 metres, ultimately being eliminated after placing Club (football)
21st in his qualification group. He retired from athletics upon Coached by Nabil Mabrouk
completing his university education, later serving as an (athletics)
athletics coach to multiple runners of the Palestinian national
Retired c. 1998 (athletics),
athletics team, such as Bahaa al-Farra and Woroud Sawalha.
2004 (football)
He died on 11 June 2024, following kidney failure.
Achievements and titles

Early life and education Personal

best
10,000 m: 34:40.50

Majed Abu Maraheel was born on 5 June 1963, in a family of

Bedouin[2] Palestinian refugees at the Nuseirat camp in the Gaza Strip. His family were maize
farmers and ranchers who lived in Beersheba and owned fifteen acres (6.1 ha) of land in the Negev

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before they were forced to flee in 1948 by the Israel Defense

Forces due to the 1948 Palestine war.[3][4] He and his family
eventually lived in the district of Zeitoun.[5]

For his primary 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 his
preparatory school education and was also part of the school's Nuseirat refugee camp, where Abu
Maraheel was born
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 the
Palestinian national team.[7] He then came back to schooling, studying at Palestine High School
and Carmel High School for Boys in Rimal, 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 kilometres (12 mi) barefoot from his home in Gaza City to catch a bus at the Erez 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 to God for my success and wait at the door to hear my result."[2]

During the First Intifada, he was caught in a crossfire in 1991 and was shot in the arm by an Israeli
soldier, penetrating the bone and leaving a three-inch (7.6 cm) scar.[8][10]

Abu Maraheel moved to Germany in 1998 to study at Leipzig University. He was considered to be
the first Palestinian student at the institution and graduated from an advanced course for a degree
in the Arabic language.[6] He also studied for a certificate in athletics coaching at the university
and also went to Egypt for four additional certifications.[5]

Sporting career

Football career
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 a
defender for the team and played alongside his brothers, Mohamed, who also played as a defender,
and Magdy, who played as a goalkeeper.[9]

He played for the team in 1985 for classification matches that were organized by the Palestinian
Football Association, which eventually made the team qualify for the Gaza Strip Premier League,
one of the two top 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 on c. 1994, after switching to
athletics. Though he came out of retirement in 2004, to representing the team in a summer

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tournament organised by the Palestinian Al-Ahly Club, which was held at the Palestine Stadium.
They reached the finals, placing as the runner-up behind the Rafah Services Club, with the latter
winning 0–2 through penalty kicks.[6]

Early and local athletics career

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.[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 the Palestinian Track and Field

Federation and member of the Palestine Olympic Committee
(POC), saw Abu Maraheel in a football match in 1994 between
his team and the Al-Tuffah Club. After the match, Mabrouk
invited him to the Yarmouk 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 Al Deira Beach, where Abu Maraheel
originally self-trained for running
January 1995.[15]

He competed in an Olympic Day festival in June 1995, held in

Gaza by the Palestinian Ministry of Youth and Sports.[4] He won his division in an eight-kilometre
(4.97 mi) race against 500 other men, receiving a trophy and a 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.[3][13]

Abu Maraheel worked for four hours a day in Force 17 and trained on the force's rifle range. He
stood in the second circle around Arafat during his visits to Gaza, keeping a distance of around 50
metres (160 ft) from the president. Gaza was considered a particularly dangerous area for Arafat,
due to intense opposition from the political and militant organization Hamas. 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]

International athletics career

For his first international competition, Abu Maraheel competed at the 1995 Arab Athletics
Championships in Cairo, Egypt, in August 1995. He ran in the men's 10,000-metre event alongside
Yasser Ali-Dib, a Palestinian racewalker who was born in Cairo.[4][16] Prior to the championships,
he was detained by 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.[16] The
following year, Abu Maraheel was set to compete in the 1996 Paris Marathon but could not travel
nor compete in the race due to the nation's closure imposed by the Israeli government.[6]

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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 policy. The Palestinian Authority-
sponsored team competed at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta, becoming the first
Palestinian 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 the Oslo Accords.[18][19]

Abu Maraheel and fellow long-distance runner Ihab Salama

were set to compete in the men's 10,000 metres and 5000
metres, respectively. For the opening ceremony, he was chosen
to be the first ever flag 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]
Centennial Olympic Stadium in
Relationships between the Olympic Committee of Israel (OCI) Atlanta, the site of the 1996 Olympic
and POC were fairly amicable during the Games, with athletics events
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.[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 wearing sneakers and expressed hopes for a donation
of track shoes.[21] Abu Maraheel was described by the Daily Press as unlikely to medal at the
Games due to his personal best of around 30:00 for the 10,000 metres, almost three minutes
behind the contemporary Olympic and world 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 to Sports 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 runner Worku 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 the Turin Marathon in Turin, Italy, with fellow Palestinian
long-distance runner Mohamed Salama. While he was a student at Leipzig University, he competed
in several races and placed as high as fifth in one of the competitions held in the nation.[6]

Retirement and coaching

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 the
Palestine Athletic Federation,[26] and a board member and supervisor for his former football team,

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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 Olympian Nader al-Masri, at the 1999 IAAF World Cross
Country Championships in Belfast.[29] He coached a variety of
other Palestinian athletic teams, including those participating at
the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou and the 2019 Arab Athletics
Championships in Cairo.[30][31] In Qatar, he trained the
Palestinian runners Bahaa al-Farra and Woroud Sawalha for the Woroud Sawalha, one of Abu
2012 Summer Olympics.[32] He also coached the Palestinian team Maraheel's trainees, at the 2012
for the 2017 Arab Athletics Championships in Tunis, though the Summer Olympics
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 the United Nations Development Programme and the government of Japan, the
event was held at held in Yarmouk Stadium on 19 November 2022, and featured performances and
meetings by several national sport federations.[34]

Personal life
Abu Maraheel was a practicing Muslim.[2] He was married and had eight children.[5] His house
was bombed by F-16 planes during the 2014 Gaza War, with one of his sons being seriously injured
and was subsequently hospitalized at Makassed Hospital in At-Tur, East Jerusalem.[35]

Death
Abu Maraheel suffered kidney failure in 2024 while at the Nuseirat camp. Prior to his death, he
was hospitalized for treatment at Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah.[36] Due to power
outages and medical shortages stemming from the Israel–Hamas war, medical treatment was
limited, and he died on 11 June 2024, at the age of 61.[9] According to Middle East Eye and
Maktoob Media, his brother stated that he alongside his family tried to evacuate him through the
Rafah Border Crossing for treatment in Egypt, but could not due to the blockade of the Gaza Strip
imposed by the Israeli government.[37][38]

Career statistics

International and local competitions

The following table shows Abu Maraheel's performances in known local competitions and
international competitions.

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Majed Abu Maraheel's long-distance running record

Year Competition Venue Position Event Time Ref.

Gaza Cross Country Cross [15]

Gaza Strip, Palestine 1st
Championship country
1995 Gaza Olympic Day Run Gaza Strip, Palestine 1st 8 km [4]

Arab Championships Cairo, Egypt 10th 10,000 m 36:22.00 [16]

Paris Marathon Paris, France — Marathon DNS [6]

1996
Atlanta, United
Olympic Games
States 21st[b] 10,000 m 34:40.50 [18]

1997 Turin Marathon Turin, Italy Marathon [6]

Notes
a. Also romanized Majdi Abu Marahil, Majed Abu Marahil, and Majid Marheel
b. Position in qualifying round

References

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External links
Majed Abu Maraheel (https://worldathletics.org/athletes/-/14549374) at World Athletics
Majed Abu Maraheel (https://olympics.com/en/athletes/majed-abu-maraheel) at Olympics.com

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6/21/24, 12:02 AM Majed Abu Maraheel - Wikipedia

Majed Abu Maraheel (https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/74554) at Olympedia

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Majed_Abu_Maraheel&oldid=1230077168"

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