Dima Aktaa (; born 1994) is a Syrian athlete and fundraiser, who was named one the BBC's 100 Women list in 2022. As of 2022 Aktaa was in training to compete in the 100m at the

2024 Summer Paralympics The 2024 Paralympic Games, Summer Paralympics (french: Jeux paralympiques d'été de 2024), commonly known as the Games of the XVII Paralympiad, and commonly known as Paris 2024, is an upcoming international Multi-sport event, multi-sport paraspo ...

Biography

Aktaa was born in 1994 in Syria. In August 2012 her home in

Salqin Salqin ( ar, سَلْقِين, Salqīn) is a town in Syria, administratively part of Idlib Governorate. Nearby localities include Kafr Takharim to the southeast, Abu Talha to the south, Delbiya to the southwest, al-Alani to the northwest and Isqat ...

, near

Idlib ar, إدلبي, Idlibi , coordinates = , elevation_m = 500 , area_code = 23 , geocode = C3871 , blank_name = Climate , blank_info ...

, was bombed and her leg was removed in the subsequent explosion. The family left Syria for Lebanon, where they lived for a number of years, before coming the United Kingdom as refugees in 2017. She and her family were settled in Bedfordshire in 2018. After receiving asylum and receiving a prosthetic leg, Aktaa took up running again, a sport she had been passionate about prior to losing her leg. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

she was part of a walking initiative that raised over £70,000 to support vaccination schemes in refugee camps. As of 2022 Aktaa was in training to compete in the 100m at the

Recognition

Aktaa's contributions to sport and disability awareness were recognised by her inclusion on the BBC's 100 Women list in 2022, one of eight Arab women included that year. In 2020 she was recognised as a member of 'The Lionhearts' - an alternative England football squad. The pop singer

Anne-Marie Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson (born 7 April 1991) is an English singer. She has attained charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, including Clean Bandit's "Rockabye (song), Rockabye", which peaked at number one, as well as "Alarm (Anne-Marie song ...

wrote a song about her life.

References

External links

The Guilty Feminist ''The Guilty Feminist'' is a feminist comedy podcast hosted by Deborah Frances-White. Created by Frances-White and Sofie Hagen in 2015, the podcast features guests on a panel to discuss topics on and related to feminism, and is recorded in front o ...

Being Extra with Felicity Ward and special guests Sol Escobar and Dema Aktaa
(podcast) * Anne-Marie
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Dima Aktaa
- Instagram {{DEFAULTSORT:Aktaa, Dima 1994 births Living people Syrian women activists Syrian sportspeople Refugees Syrian refugees Refugees in the United Kingdom Refugees of the Syrian civil war