How did the war in Yemen affect sports?

Since the outbreak of war in Yemen, all sectors of the country, whose civilization extends back to the second millennium BC, have been affected, and after ten years, the impact of the war is still evident in all aspects of life.

The war had a direct impact on sports, in the country that was trying to compete with its neighbors athletically, in football, the most famous sport in the world.

The Yemeni football team did not participate in any major tournament, before appearing in the Asian Nations Cup in 2019, and the team did not achieve any victory throughout the history of its participation in the Gulf Cup, or in its appearance in the Asian Games.

Aside from football, Yemen did not appear as expected in the Olympic Games in all sports, since the first participation, which came late.

North Yemen appeared in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and it also appeared in Seoul 1988 in a separate delegation from the South Yemen delegation in the same session, before the unification of Yemen starting with the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, which witnessed the delegation of a unified Yemen.

From the Barcelona Games until the 2024 Paris Olympics, only 34 Yemeni athletes participated in the Olympic Games, including only four athletes who each participated twice, and no athlete achieved a victory or qualified for the next round, with the exception of a single victory in taekwondo by Tamim Al-Qobati in the London 2012 Games.

Infrastructure destruction

At a time when Yemeni sports are trying to advance, the war has eliminated any hope of success, by destroying the country’s sports infrastructure, which has negatively affected the promising athletes who have hope for development, and are now in individual attempts in order to attempt honorable representation in the largest international sports forum, the Games. Olympic.

In Paris, four athletes appeared to carry the banner of Yemen, which was raised by the 19-year-old young runner, Samir Al-Yafei, at the opening ceremony, as did his father, Mohammed Al-Yafei, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in China, who was also a runner.

Al-Yafei is primarily a middle-distance player, but his participation in the 100-meter competition came to take advantage of the white card that Yemen obtained in the tournament, to participate in the short competitions, and to break his personal record.

Regarding preparations for the Olympics, Al-Yafei says: “We were supposed to camp before the Olympics in Tunisia, but unfortunately the camp faltered and we set up a camp in Cairo for two weeks, because in Yemen there is no track and no training places.”

He added: "In the war, they hit the stadiums and there are no possibilities. There are champions participating in the Olympics (from other countries) who have been preparing for two and three years, camped and prepared with capabilities and competitions, but unfortunately we have none."

Regarding the war, he says: “The conditions in Yemen are difficult because of the war. There is no participation in tournaments or competitions, only exercises in the street on the asphalt. The war also affected us in terms of our livelihood, as my father was a teacher and received a salary, and after the war and the school attack, the situation has changed now.” .

Al-Yafei's coach, Radwan Shani, shares the opinion of his player, and stressed not only the damage to the infrastructure, but even the lack of a safe environment for practicing sports in the country.

Shani says: "The problem is that the federations do not have financial support and there are no sports capabilities in Yemen. There are no stadiums or halls, and even the airports are closed. The war has set us back many years. Sports activities have completely stopped, the infrastructure has been destroyed, and the aspects of living in Yemen are almost non-existent."

He added: "When the war broke out, I had no choice but to leave my country, so I went to Qatar to practice training there. We try as much as possible to maintain a sense of life regarding sports, in the hope that the situation will improve and that the war in our country will stop and we will start from scratch for a new stage." We can offer what we aspire to for future generations.”

The impact of the war on sports was negative in all aspects, as the stadiums for all sports were damaged, including swimming, in which Youssef Nasser participated in the Paris Olympics, when he was only 16 years old, becoming the youngest Arab swimmer in this tournament.

Despite his young age and lack of experience, he was also able to break his own personal record, even though he finished the 100-meter butterfly race in 40th and last place, more than eight seconds behind the place preceding him.

Nasser says: “It is an honor to participate in the name of Yemen, and to be the youngest player among all the Arab swimmers, but all the swimming pools were destroyed and we only have non-Olympic swimming pools left. The war has greatly affected not only me but all the players in Yemen.”

He added: "We do not have the capabilities of great swimmers, such as a masseur, a private trainer, or a fitness trainer. I rely only on myself, with the help of Captain Fouad, who only helped us with technical matters in swimming."

"Carving in rock"

Fouad Yassin, coach of the Yemeni swimming team, was forced to introduce five-kilometre open-water swimming to Yemen, because there are no 50-meter Olympic swimming pools.

Yassin says: “There are no legal swimming pools for training, and we used to train the player in an 11-meter pool. Also, the demand for sports in Yemen has decreased because there is no safety and comfort to train, or to go to training places, most of which have been bombed.”

Al-Raimi says: “Preparation for Paris began immediately after Tokyo, because participating in the Olympics is the dream of any athlete, and due to the scarcity of capabilities in Yemen and the war conditions, I participated in a few world championships, and relied on following international champions via the Internet in my training.”

Al-Raimi was supposed to camp in Tunisia before the Paris Olympics, but after the camp faltered because they were unable to obtain visas, she headed with the rest of the members of the Yemeni delegation to Egypt, and there she was forced to surrender her weapon at customs, and she was unable to take it out throughout her time in Egypt, which forced her to train without a weapon. .

Amal Modhesh, coach of the Yemeni shooting team, says: “We had to resort to warm-up exercises only and dry training, and we did not train with any other weapon, and even before traveling, Yasmine could have traveled without her weapon due to the procedures.”

Regarding the hours before traveling to Paris, Al-Raimi says: “At the airport, I faced great difficulties despite my presence there a day before, and after they assured me that the procedures on the day of travel would be easy, I was surprised by complications that might force me to be late for another day or two. I even cried before take-off because I had not trained during my stay in Paris.” Cairo, then closing the plane door in my face and making me unable to travel despite transporting weapons to the plane, before they opened the plane door and allowed me to travel.”

She added: "I did not hold a weapon for a month, but I decided to defy all the obstacles and difficulties. I trained with passion for only two days. I did not give in to the fear of competing with other champions. My goal was to honor my country, even if with limited capabilities."

Regarding Yasmine’s lack of readiness, Modhesh says: “Yasmine was not ready, and during the days of the bombing she was unable to train in Yemen due to the unsafe conditions, in addition to the lack of capabilities that any athlete needs, and we do not even have a shooting range.”

Participation in itself is the goal of the Yemeni presence in the Olympics, as the current capabilities do not help promising athletes, who want to improve previous results, which did not witness success in the Olympic Games.

The Yemeni ambassador to France, Riyad Yassin, agrees with this opinion and says: “Despite all the difficulties, and despite the exceptional situation in Yemen, participating in the Olympics is a championship in itself given the current conditions.”

He confirms the words of the coaches and players, saying: “There are no Olympic stadiums inside Aden. Most of them were demolished, and unfortunately there are no training centers at the present time.”

The suffering of the Yemeni people is embodied in the participation of the Yemeni delegation in the 2024 Paris Olympics, as the mix of youth and experience suffered from many obstacles, starting with the lack of infrastructure in the first place to try to improve their levels, through not being sufficiently prepared to appear honorably in the Olympics, but they tried, and they were able In the end, they should improve their numbers, as a sign of hope that life will return to Yemeni sports again.

Source: BBC