From Egypt to Saudi: Meet Middle East's athletes at Paris Olympics

The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris will hold its opening ceremony on Friday with a big cohort of athletes from the Middle East, including 14 Iranians and five Syrians on the Refugee Olympic Team.

Here is a look at some of the region’s most prominent athletes and teams competing in France:

Egypt

Egypt has high hopes for its association football (soccer) team at the Olympics, but star Mohamed Salah will not be there. Salah’s professional club, Liverpool, is not obligated to release him for the competition, and he will instead participate in their pre-season. The English Premier League likewise prevented him from playing in the 2020 Tokyo games.

Egypt’s soccer team will be captained by former Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny in Salah’s absence. The team drew with the Dominican Republic in their first match of group play on Wednesday.

Israel

Artem Dolgopyat is seeking to defend his gold medal in gymnastics. Dolgopyat won the artistic gymnastics competition at the last Olympics, becoming only the second Israeli to win a gold medal.

Other members of the Israeli cohort include judokas Peter Paltchik and Raz Hershko, Kenyan-born runner Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, swimmer Anastasia Gorbenko and windsurfer Sharon Kantor.

Israeli Olympic athletes have received several threats amid the Gaza war, prompting France to give them 24-hour protection. The Israeli soccer team was booed on Wednesday during their match against Mali, though there were no major security incidents. There is strong pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli sentiment in France.

Turkey

The Turkish women’s volleyball team has received considerable media attention in the country in the lead-up to the Olympics. The squad is led by Cuban-born Melissa Vargas, who qualified to represent Turkey via residency. Vargas has played professionally in Turkey for years and was named MVP of last year’s Volleyball Nations League.

Archer Mete Gazoz is seeking to repeat his gold medal performance at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo (held in 2021) by winning again in Paris.

Saudi Arabia

Veterans Ramzy Al-Duhami and Abdullah Alsharbatly are leading the kingdom’s show-jumping team. Two out of four of Saudi Arabia’s Olympic medals have come from horse-riding sports, and Duhami and Alsharbatly were part of the team that won the bronze in 2012.

United Arab Emirates

Safiya Al Sayegh made history by becoming the first female cyclist from the UAE to qualify for the Olympics. The 22-year-old will compete in the cycling road event.

Qatar

Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan of the Qatari men’s beach volleyball team won the bronze in Tokyo and will compete again in Paris.

Iraq

The Iraqi soccer team defeated Ukraine on Wednesday in the group stage. Ali Jasim, the 20-year-old winger for Como in Italy’s Serie A, scored a late goal to give Iraq the victory.

“I want to give my all for Iraq because the Iraqi people deserve it,” he told FIFA’s website after the match.

Iran

Some of Iran’s best chances for gold are in wrestling and taekwondo. Hasan Yazdani is Iran’s strongest male wrestler, while Nahid Kiani is a contender in women’s taekwondo, according to the news website IranWire.

Lebanon

The list of Lebanese athletes includes shooter Ray Bassil, who competed in the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Olympics but is still chasing her first medal. Caramnob Sagaipov, originally from the Russian autonomous republic of Chechnya, is competing in judo in his first Olympic appearance.

Lebanese photojournalist Christina Assi, who lost part of her leg in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon last October, carried the Olympic torch during a procession outside of Paris on Sunday. Lebanese videographer Issam Abdallah was also killed in the strike. 

Refugees

There are several athletes from the Middle East on the Refugee Olympic Team. The team is comprised of players who are refugees and are therefore not representing their home countries. Taekwondo practitioner Yahya al-Ghotany and his family fled Syria after the start of the civil war in 2011, settling in Jordan. Ghotany will be one of the flag bearers for the team at the opening ceremony.

Other Syrian-born athletes on the Refugee Olympic Team include swimmer Alaa Maso, judokas Munaa Dahouk and Adnan Khankan, and long-jumper Mohammad Amin Alsalami. Maso, Khankan and Alsalami are based in Germany, while Dahouk is in the Netherlands.

Out of the 37 refugee athletes on the team, 14 are from Iran. The Iranian presence includes badminton player Dorsa Yavarivafa, who left for Turkey in 2018, and boxer Omid Ahmadisafa, who sought asylum in Germany in 2021.