Emin Özmen Documents the Palestinian Wrestling Team
The Turkish photographer captures the story of Ali Aburumaila, a Palestinian wrestler from the West Bank on assignment for the German newspaper Der Spiegel
In April 2024, during the run-up to this year’s Olympic Games, Emin Özmen spent a week with the Palestinian wrestling team in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on assignment for Der Spiegel. Accompanied by German journalist Matthias Fiedler, the two set out to document the story of Ali Aburumaila, a 26-year-old from Hebron in the West Bank, who now lives in Turkey.
Aburumaila was, at the time, training for the Asian Wrestling Qualifier for the Paris Olympics. He was sharing a room with his teammate, Abdullah Assaf, 25, born in a Palestinian diaspora in Chicago, and the two were accompanied by coach Riad Hassan, 42, born in a refugee camp in Lebanon.
Ali Aburumaila was preparing to compete in the under 57 kg category. Being just over that threshold, the process of losing weight was a big part of his journey to prepare for selection.
In the interview with Der Speigel, Aburumaila speaks about the experience of training to represent Palestine on a world stage in the context of the ongoing Israel–Hamas war. “Their suffering motivates me to persevere,” he tells the newspaper. “I will make them proud.” His goal, he explains, is to compete in the Olympics and to fight in front of millions of spectators, something that fringe sports such as wrestling are usually denied at other major events.
"It was amazing for me to hear how sports could take him out of that whirlwind and free his mind."
- Emin Özmen
“During that week we were together all the time. It gave us a chance to understand them and their lives,” says Emin Özmen. “They are all incredible human beings, who are doing a lot to make their people proud in these very difficult times.” Moved by Aburumaila’s story, the Turkish photographer and the German journalist decided to travel to Turkey to visit the athlete’s current home in Bursa, a Turkish city in the region of Marmara.
The qualifying matches took place from April 19 to 21. Aburumaila lost his match against Kyrgyzstan’s Uulu Almaz, thus ending his journey to this year’s Olympic Games.
After the defeat, Aburumaila returned to his home in Bursa, where the athlete has lived with his 22-year-old wife and young son since 2021. He fears they will not be able to afford to live there for long because of the rising cost of living, he told Der Spiegel.
Read the full story at Der Spiegel Nr. 30 / July 7, 2024.
The 30th edition of the Summer Olympic Games opened in Paris on July 26, 2024. From the 11,000 athletes arriving in the French capital this month to compete are eight Palestinians, hoping to bring home medals in taekwondo, 800-metre race, swimming, and boxing.
