Hamse Ziyad Abdouh (or Hamza Abdu, ar, حمزة عبده) (born January 1, 1991"For Palestinian swimmers, it's a chance to swim"
''Globe and Mail'', July 7, 2008), is a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

. He represented Palestine at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. In the lead-up to the Games, the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

reported on the difficulties he faced in training for the Olympics, having only an 18-metre pool at his disposal rather than a standard Olympic-sized 50 metre pool."Palestinian Olympic team face training hurdles"
Australian Broadcasting Corporation, June 7, 2008 His coach, while noting the support of the Israeli Swimming Association,"Palestinians take hard route to Beijing"
Reuters, June 13, 2008 lamented the travel restrictions imposed on Palestinians citizens by the

Israeli occupation Israeli-occupied territories are the lands that were captured and occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967. While the term is currently applied to the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, it has also been used to refer to a ...

and lack of

funding, which had hampered his training. The

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' described him, along with

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

Elis Lapenmal Elis Lapenmal (born 6 September 1987 in Malakula) is a Ni-Vanuatu sprinter. Competing at the World Athletics Championships in 2007, Lapenmal ran the 100 metres in 13.10 seconds. She won a silver medal at the South Pacific Mini Games, and qualifi ...

, as one of the Games' "underdogs", and as such he has also been described as a "potential successor to ricMoussambani"."Lovable losers - the Olympic ideal or waste of space"
, AFP, July 6, 2008 Abdouh is the Palestinian record holder for the 100-metre freestyle and 100-metre butterfly. His personal best in the 100-metre freestyle is 56 seconds. He has said that he was inspired to become an Olympic swimmer by his cousin

Raed Awisat Rad Aweisat ( ar, رعد عويسات; born October 27, 1986) is a Palestinian swimmer, who specialized in butterfly events. Aweisat qualified for the men's 100 m butterfly, as Palestine's youngest athlete (aged 17), at the 2004 Summer Olympics ...

, who swam for Palestine at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. He lives in

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the sector of Jerusalem that was held by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Jerusalem was envisaged as a separat ...

External links

"Palestinian swimmer Hamza Abdu swims during a practice session in Jerusalem May 30, 2008."

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

image.
Biography
on the official website of the Beijing Olympics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdouh, Hamse 1991 births Living people Palestinian male swimmers Olympic swimmers of Palestine Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics