Majed Abu Maraheel

Palestinian long-distance runner and football player (1963–2024) Majed Abu Maraheel ( Arabic : ماجد أبو مراحيل , romanized : Mājid ʾAbū Marāḥīl , Arabic pronunciation: [maːd͡ʒid ʔabuː maraħiːl] ; 5 June 1963 – 11 June 2024) was a Palestinian long-distance runner , football player , security officer , and athletics coach , who was the first Palestinian to compete at the Olympic Games . Born into a refugee family in the Nuseirat refugee camp of the Gaza Strip , Abu Maraheel took part in athletics and football as a child. Before his international sporting career, he self-trained as a long-distance runner on Gazan streets and beaches, becoming locally famous after winning a variety of local competitions. After winning an eight-kilometer race in 1995, he was recruited by Palestinian National Authority leader Yasser Arafat into Force 17 , his personal security force. Before pursuing his athletics career, Abu Maraheel was a football player for the Al-Zaytoun Sports Club. With his two brothers, he played with the team ever since its formation until switching to athletics in the 1990s. He was the captain and played as a defender for the team, playing in the Gaza Strip Premier League every time the team had a match. Although he came out of retirement in 2004, to compete for his former team in a tournament organized in the Palestine Stadium by the Palestinian Al-Ahly Club. In his international sporting career, Abu Maraheel competed in the 1995 Arab Athletics Championships , barely being able to attend the event after a lengthy detainment by Egyptian border authorities. The following year, he represented Palestine at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta , becoming the country's first Olympian and Olympic flag-bearer . He competed in the men's 10,000 meters , ultimately being eliminated after placing 21st in his qualification group. He retired from athletics upon completing his university education, later serving as an athletics coach to multiple runners of the Palestinian national athletics team, such as Olympians Nader al-Masri , Bahaa al-Farra , and Woroud Sawalha . He died on 11 June 2024, following kidney failure . There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).