Unifeed
GREECE / SYRIA OLYMPIC TORCH
STORY: GREECE / SYRIA OLYMPIC TORCH
TRT: 01:55
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / NATS
DATELINE: 12-14 APRIL 2016, ATHENS, GREECE
1. Med shot, Ibrahim warming up in the water
2. Pan left, Ibrahim swimming in pool
3. Med shot, Ibrahim sitting by the swimming pool
4. Close up, Ibrahim putting on his prosthesis
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ibrahim Al-Hussein, Syrian Refugee Athlete:
“The whole thing was like a test. Not a small thing to go through. At first I didn’t accept it, but finally I came to terms with it. I lived like there’s nothing wrong and I’m still doing that. The truth is I’ve lost my leg but I’m just like everyone else.”
6. Tilt up, Ibrahim buying fruit at the market
7. Various shots, Ibrahim playing basketball in wheelchair with teammates
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ibrahim Al-Hussein, Syrian Refugee Athlete:
“After twenty years I managed to make my dream come true. I always dreamed about this and I dreamed of competing in the Olympic Games. And today I am here and I reached higher than that. I have the honor to carry the Olympic flame. It is the symbol of this competition and the honor of this competition.”
9. Various shots, Ibrahim swimming
Ibrahim al-Hussein fled the war in Syria two years ago. He applied and was granted asylum in Greece.
Now the 27-year-old Syrian refugee, will carry the Olympic Flame in Athens as part of the torch relay for the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The symbolic gesture is meant to show solidarity with the world’s refugees at a time when millions are fleeing war and persecution worldwide.
Ibrahim was chosen to carry it a few days later through the Eleonas Accommodate Site that houses refugee.
This young Syrian athlete, who once dreamed of competing in the Olympics and whose athletic career was interrupted by the war and an injury that cost him part of his right leg after a bombing in his home town of Deir ez-Zor.
Ibrahim says “after twenty years I managed to make my dream come true. I always dreamed about this and I dreamed of competing in the Olympic Games. And today I am here and I reached higher than that. I have the honor to carry the Olympic flame. It is the symbol of this competition and the honor of this competition.”
Ibrahim commits himself to a rigorous training schedule. Three days per week, he swims with ALMA, a Greek nonprofit organization for athletes with disabilities. His training is held in the former 2004 Olympic sport complex in Athens.
He is also part of a wheelchair basketball league that meets five times per week and travels throughout the country for games.
Ibrahim does all this despite working a 10-hour overnight shift at a cafe in Anthoupoli, an Athens suburb 30 minutes by train from his home.
Ibrahim is 3 seconds off his best time. Something he hopes will inspire refugee athletes to pursue their dreams.
The Rio Olympics will see a team of refugee athletes from various countries, compete under the Olympic flag.
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