Meet the Palestinian boxer hoping to win Palestine’s Olympic medal

Waseem Abu Sal has a simple but ambitious dream: to deliver the first medal to Palestinians at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics. The 20-year-old boxer from Ramallah is set to become the first Palestinian boxer to compete in the Olympics after earning a wild-card spot. Abu Sal will fight his first Olympic bout on July 28 after an unusual training session with his remote coach Ahmad Harara, a Palestinian from Gaza currently based in Cairo and prevented from attending by Israeli travel restrictions. In fact, Harara writes Abu Sal’s training schedule every day, and he trains in the morning and then in the evening with coach Nader Jayousi. Although Abu Sal failed to advance through the Olympic qualifying rounds, he was awarded a wild-card spot in a system that guarantees all countries are represented at the Games. The Palestinian Olympic Committee has been represented on the International Olympic Committee since 1995 despite the lack of a state.