Two-time olympian swimmer Yazan Al Bawwab hopes to help build sports venus
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00:00Now it's the 12th day of the Olympic Games and I'm very pleased to welcome to the program Yazan Al-Bawab.
00:07He is a swimmer and one of eight athletes representing Palestine here in Paris this year.
00:14He joins us from the Olympic Village.
00:17Good evening to you, Yazan. Thanks very much for talking to us.
00:20Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be on your channel.
00:25Look, you swam the 100-meter backstroke for Palestine.
00:30You had the Palestinian flag on your chest when you dived into the pool.
00:35I wonder what it meant to you to do that, how you felt representing Palestine at these Games,
00:44given the war in Gaza, the devastation that we all see on our TV screens every day now.
00:51Yeah, I mean, there's absolutely no words to describe what's happening back home.
00:58I'm, like you said, one of eight people. We have 15 million Palestinians scattered around the world.
01:06I'm just one that's able to be here to represent a voice of the people that are not heard.
01:15Even here on the news, talking about the numbers of people and innocent people being killed.
01:22We're trying to show the world that we're athletes.
01:27We want to play sports. We want to be like everybody else.
01:30We want to have the rights of everybody else.
01:32Sports is one of those tools that I'm trying to use to get the humanity out of the world
01:38because we're not treated as human beings right now.
01:41And we're showing our viewers pictures of you during that race.
01:46As I said, you had the Palestinian flag on your chest, also on your hat.
01:49You put your two fingers up in the air, the peace sign as well.
01:53I want to ask you, though, specifically about the flag, because obviously France,
02:00the country hosting these Olympic Games where you are now, doesn't recognise the state of Palestine.
02:06So how did you feel wearing the flag, given where you are?
02:13Absolutely. I mean, this is one of my phrases that I said to the news.
02:19I said, hey, I'm here raising my flag. I'm so proud.
02:23It's an absolute honour to raise it in a country that doesn't recognise us.
02:26Just so you're aware, a lot of the countries around Europe and even America don't recognise Palestine,
02:31which I mean is something to say when I qualify to be here.
02:37I have the flag on the land that I'm going to swim in.
02:40And the athletes, they have the flag.
02:43Palestine has land here in the Olympics.
02:46So to be here to represent 15 million people,
02:52there's countries here with 30,000 people and have a country,
02:55and we have 15 million people, believe it or not, yet we're not a recognised country.
03:01So it's an absolute honour and it's my way of showing resistance.
03:05And your story itself, your personal story, is quite extraordinary.
03:10You're a member of the Palestinian diaspora and your dad is a swimmer as well.
03:15In fact, it was him who had that vision, first of all, of wanting to represent Palestine at the Olympic Games.
03:21And it was you, his son, who achieved that.
03:24It must have been an emotional moment for you, but also for your dad.
03:28Yeah, my dad was not a swimmer. He was a refugee.
03:31He had a dream to learn how to swim.
03:34I mean, even dreaming to be at the Olympics is not something that the Palestinians have just yet.
03:39Dreaming to do something, sometimes, for the people in Gaza right now,
03:46they're looking for water, for food.
03:48For them to dream to go to the Olympics is not even something.
03:53They're dreaming about basic human rights, human needs.
03:57And so my dad got out of being a refugee.
04:02He saw that education is the way out and he just put his head down,
04:06kept working to get me to where I am today.
04:09And here I am, having a voice, spreading it to millions around the world.
04:13And you train in Dubai, not in Palestine.
04:18It's worth highlighting, isn't it, that if you were in Palestine yourself,
04:23you couldn't train because there are no swimming pools.
04:27There's no swimming pools. I mean, I was born in Saudi.
04:31I grew up in Dubai. I went to university in Canada and in the UK.
04:35I've lived in the Netherlands. I have Italian citizenship.
04:38A lot of people are very confused, you know, like, what's going on?
04:41It's amazing. But, you know, I got kicked out of my homeland.
04:44You know, everybody thinks it's amazing, but we didn't have a choice.
04:50We have to leave, you know.
04:52And so this is the message that I want to just share with the world.
04:54I'm a normal kid like everybody else, you know,
04:57but I'm subjected to things that not a lot of people are subjected to,
05:01and especially athletes.
05:03And also I'm here talking about a war going on in my country
05:07where other athletes are not talking about these kind of things.
05:10They're talking about, you know, their medals or their times.
05:12Nobody seems to care about my medals.
05:14Nobody seems to care about my time.
05:16And it's unfortunate.
05:18But you know what? This is my role, and I'm very proud to carry the flag
05:21and send this message to the world.
05:23Well, look, let's talk about you then.
05:25I wonder what is next for you,
05:27because the Olympic Games have wrapped up for you now.
05:31What do you want to do the next couple of years?
05:33Give us a sense of what you'd like to achieve.
05:36I mean, I run a business. I've been running a business for two years now.
05:39I started up – it's a separate business from my dad's.
05:43I sell furniture. I have a factory. I consult, sports consulting.
05:47I'm an aerospace engineer, so I work in that field too.
05:50So I didn't – you know, again, like I said, I use sports as a tool
05:55for developing me as a character and also going forward
05:59rather than just having sports like a lot of these athletes here.
06:04I fund myself to swim. I don't rely on anybody.
06:07I'm very proud to say I'm here because, you know, as a Palestinian,
06:12nobody's going to help you get where you are.
06:15You've got to help yourself.
06:16And so this was just a stop for me.
06:21I'm going to get back to work, actually.
06:24Well, we'll let you get back to work.
06:26It's been a real honour to talk to you this evening.
06:29Thank you very much indeed for spending a couple of minutes with us
06:32here on France 24.
06:33That is Yazan Al-Bawab, Palestinian Olympic swimmer.
06:37Thanks for having me.
06:38Oh, look.
06:39Thanks for joining us on the programme.