The Palestinian Paralympian who lost family members in bombing of Gaza

Fadi Deeb is a shot put Paralympian, a part-time basketball coach - and is the only member of Palestine's Olympic delegation who comes from Gaza.

He survived being shot by an Israeli soldier in 2001, but it left him paralyzed from the waist down. Several members of his family, including his brother, have been killed in the recent Israeli bombing of Gaza.

‌"I got my disability by… I got shot in my back when I was 18 years old," he tells CGTN. "We got too much shooting from the Israeli soldiers and we are just running and I got shot in my back so I got my disability. Now, you're talking about 23 years I'm using the wheelchair."

While Deeb has faced down those life-changing injuries to continue a successful sporting career – he was already a member of the Palestinian volleyball team before the shooting –  Israel's violent reprisals after the October 7 Hamas attack brought tragedy again.

‌"My family, my brother, my sister, my uncles, my aunt - the whole of my family is in the Gaza Strip," he says. "On December 7 I lose my brother, I lose my nephew, I lose two of my cousins, the whole of my family, more than 17 persons. How can you separate this? You are not a machine."

In July, a Palestinian request to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to ban Israel from this summer's Games was denied, with IOC president Thomas Bach insisting "We have two National Olympic Committees, that is the difference with the world of politics, and in this respect both have been living in peaceful co-existence." 

Deeb doesn't agree: "If you want to talk about the rules, why do you refuse Russia from the Olympic Games?" he asks.  "It's a politics thing, not a sport thing. You cannot open one eye and close one eye. If you want to make the rules clear, make it the same for everybody."

T‌he all-round sportsman

Deeb is an all-round sportsman. In his teens, he played not just volleyball but also football, basketball and tennis. Since being paralyzed he has played wheelchair versions of many ball games, but he has also taken up field events shot put, discus and javelin, going on to win medals in all three at international competitions. 

Turning 40 in 2024, Deeb is passing on his expertise, coaching wheelchair basketball. 

"I hope to improve my national team in Palestine to be one of the best national teams in the world," he says, but he doesn't restrict his help to Palestinians. He coaches at Paris Basket Fauteuil, an association created in May 2021 to encourage youngsters with disabilities to play wheelchair basketball.

"I have information, why can't I share it with other people?" he adds. "To teach the children how to use their wheelchairs, how to play basketball, how to be active in life – it's like a teacher in the school so I teach them how to use it.

"Even if I'm Palestinian, it's not about religion or nationality, it's about humanity. So, I share all this information with many national teams like Cambodia, Jordan, Syria, Libya. And now I am here in France and working with children, we are like a family so I'm working with them as a teacher and a coach."

It's a new way for the accomplished sportsman to stretch himself and find new ways to grow. 

‌"This has given me energy to do and to give all that I have," he says. "Even if you are in the national team you are speaking about different responsibilities, but here… you are like a father for them."

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday