INQUIRER Sports

BEIJING—An Iraqi sprinter whose coach had to bribe militiamen so she could train. A Palestinian swimmer unable to use the Olympic-size pool nearest her home. A pioneering runner from war-wracked Afghanistan who placed last in the 100 meters.

No medals await athletes like these, from beleaguered nations with scant sports resources. In some cases, their compatriots back home received only sketchy accounts—if any—about their performances.

Yet out of the spotlight, most of these long shots savor their Olympic moments as gratefully as any champion.

“It has been my dream,” said the Palestinian swimmer, Zakia Nassar, after posting a 50-meter time nearly eight seconds off the pace in the early heats. “It’s fine to be here.”

She is one of two women on the four-member Palestinian team, along with sprinter Ghadir Ghurouf. Dubbed “The Gazelle of Jericho” by Palestinian newspapers, Ghurouf finished 71st in the 100-meter heats in 13.07, fast enough to set a Palestinian record.

Nassar, a 21-year-old dentistry student, is one of the few women from her region ever to swim in the Olympics. She did most of her training—sporadically and without a coach—in a 12-meter pool because she lacked a permit to reach the nearest Olympic-size pool in Israel.

“It was really hard for me to train and to even get to the Olympics,” she said.

Four Afghan athletes also came to Beijing, representing a country that has never won an Olympic medal and is sinking ever deeper into war as the Taliban insurgency escalates.

‘Represent your heart’

Robina Muqimyar—who in 2004 broke the gender barrier on the Afghan Olympic team—was last in a field of 85 in the women’s 100 meters in a time of 14.80, posted while running with a scarf covering her head. Teammate Massoud Azizi finished 76th in the men’s 100.

Afghanistan was under high alert Monday for fear of attacks coinciding with Independence Day, and the capital, Kabul, has had limited electricity, so following the Olympics has been a challenge even for those Afghans who care. Given the war, lack of power and economic woes, many Afghans perceive the Olympics as a distant spectacle for other nations to enjoy.

The Iraqi team almost didn’t get to compete in Beijing because of a dispute between the International Olympic Committee and Iraqi Olympic officials—an outcome that would have been heartbreaking for sprinter Dana Hussein. She had trained in donated track shoes; at one point a sniper in Baghdad took a shot at her as she ran.

The dispute was resolved just in time to gain Olympic berths, and Hussein set a personal best of 12.36 seconds in her 100-meter heat—59th fastest in the field.

“It’s not important to be the best,” she said afterward. “It’s important to represent your heart.”

Hussein’s teammates also fared modestly. Haidar Nasser Shaheed finished second-to-last in the 37-man discus field, felling well short of his goal of a new national record.