Jamal Valizadeh vividly remembers all the hardships he had to overcome to make it to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
After fleeing his home country in search of a better life, the talented refugee wrestler had to basically start from zero.
**“**It was very hard for me because I lost everything that I had. My family, my friends, education, wrestling,” he told Olympics.com.
And things did not get easier for the young athlete after he made his way to Turkiye.
The former youth champion in Greco-Roman wrestling worked 16-hour days for very little pay, feeling exploited yet determined to improve his situation.
Six months of hard labour later, he left to cross the Mediterranean Sea by boat in the middle of winter.
During the treacherous journey, the vessel he was in began to take on water, so he got off and swam the remaining few hundred metres in order to help the other travellers.
After surviving such an ordeal, there was to be no respite. He arrived penniless in France in 2016 and appled for refugee status, which was granted a few months later.
Don’t tell Valizadeh that things can’t be done.
