'I’m training in the streets': Palestine’s lone Worlds athlete pleads for end to genocide

Mohammed Dwedar hopes to travel to Germany for a training block ahead of the Islamic Solidarity Games in Saudi Arabia in November. "I can get a medal for Palestine," he said. "It will be difficult, but I can do it."

24-year-old Mohammed Dwedar is the sole Palestinian competing at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. He finished eighth in his 800m heat on Tuesday. Pic: Hannah Peters/Getty Images

“It’s very difficult,” said Mohammed Dwedar, soon after walking off the track at the Japan National Stadium. “I need to send a message to all the world: children in Palestine – we have a lot of dreams. We have eyes, we have head, we have arms, we have muscles, we have … I don’t know. I’m so sorry.” He looked down, then wiped some tears from his eyes. His message, it seemed, was a very simple one: that they are human, even when they’re not being treated as such.

Dwedar is 24, and is the sole Palestinian competing at the World Athletics Championships. In Tokyo last night, he trailed home eighth and last in his 800m heat, clocking 1:53.63. Don’t hold that against him. After all, there’s no track he can use where he lives in Jericho, the West Bank.