Representing the IOC Refugee Olympic Team, Alaa Maso will be competing Friday in swimming in the Men’s 50m Freestyle event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games. Maso holds an athletic scholarship from the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.
His lifelong dream was to participate in the Olympics that he achieved with his Games debut this July at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
A sport that started as a hobby for Maso, became a coping mechanism due to the conflict in Syria. Maso’s father became a swimming coach and taught his four-year-old son after quitting the army.
“Thanks to sports, I was able to detach myself from a lot of negativity and gain faith in my personal life during training; because the harder I trained, the better I got, and that’s what I’m trying to build my life on – staying positive, creative and healthy and waiting for the sun to rise above us,” Maso said to Olympics.com.
Maso is also old friends with Yusra Mardini, another scholarship holder representing the IOC Refugee Olympic Team, from training as a swimmer and a triathlete in Syria.
Just like Mardini, his mission is to break the misinterpretation of refugees and show that they are humans seeking better opportunities and safety. Maso’s message to every refugee is, “you’re a survivor, don’t let anybody put you down.”
In October 2015, his training facility got destroyed because of the conflict in Syria. This led Maso to flee the country with his brother and live in Germany.
His brother Mohamad Maso, competed at the Tokyo 2020 Games Monday by representing the Syrian Team at the Men’s Triathlon event.
The two brothers first stayed in Holland then moved to Germany. They have not seen their parents since they fled the country seeking refuge six years ago.
This Tokyo 2020 Olympic game is Maso’s first-ever which he takes pride in.
“Every day when I wake up, the second I’m awake, the first thing I think about in training and how I’m going to push myself. Every day is like qualification day for me,” he told Olympics.com.
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