Meet Syrian judoka Sanda Aldass who is competing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Aldass, a mother of three, fulfilled her lifelong dream of earning a spot at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games by getting a scholarship from the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.
“It’s just a dream now, out there it would be a dream coming true,” she told Olympics.com.
The Syrian-judoka credits the sport for her survival and physical and mental strength that helped her deal with the culture shock when she fled Syria six years ago to seek refuge in the Netherlands.
When Aldass escaped Syria and arrived in the Netherlands, where she was staying at a refugee camp, she was away from her husband and kid for six months.
“Running around and doing some exercises filled up my time and also kept me in good mental health,” Aldass said to Olympic.org last year.
“I knew eventually they would come and that we would have a good place to live in. That let me cool down a little bit.
“If I had sat doing nothing, I would have gone crazy,” she said.
Juggling both motherhood and being an athlete, Aldass told olympics.com that “My kids are like, “Mum, you have to go to the Olympics.”
Little did she know at that time, however, that she would compete in the summer games.
Being a refugee athlete is difficult since they cannot register in government support and training facilities. Also, they can sometimes be unable to take part in competitions. Nevertheless, Aldass was persistent and did not give up on her Olympic dream.
Although Aldass’ Olympic journey had come to an end by losing to Serbian judoka Marica Perisic, the fact that she represented millions of Syrians and refugees was an accomplishment itself.
