Majed Abu Maraheel

Majed Abu Maraheel

Abu Maraheel in a 2019 interview
Personal information
Native name	ماجد أبو مراحيل
Born	(1963-06-05)5 June 1963 Nuseirat, Egyptian-occupied Gaza Strip
Died	11 June 2024(2024-06-11) (aged 61) Nuseirat, Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip
Education	Leipzig University
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Weight	76 kg (168 lb)[1]
Sport
Country	Palestine
Sport	Athletics, Football
Event	Long-distance running
Club	Al-Zaytoun Sports Club (football)
Coached by	Nabil Mabrouk (athletics)
Retired	c. 1998 (athletics), 2004 (football)
Achievements and titles
Personal best	10,000 m: 34:40.50

Majed Abu Maraheel (Arabic: ماجد أبو مراحيل, romanized: Mājid ʿAbū Marāḥīl;^[a] 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.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).