Before every weightlifting competition, Mohammed Hamada thinks of Gaza.

He thinks of the destruction of his home and people, or of the mass grave he dug for residents of the building next to his.

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These circumstances have created a special kind of athlete. One who had to eat animal food to survive, losing 18kg in the process. And one who ultimately had to leave Gaza and his family, so he could try and compete in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

“We came out of Gaza not to escape death,” the 22-year-old Palestinian weightlifter said.

“We left Gaza to complete our right to defend Palestine.”

Mohammed makes history as the first Palestinian to compete in weightlifting at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics [Chris Graythen/Getty Images]

Career on the rise

Mohammed comes from a family of weightlifters.

His nieces and nephews all participate in the sport and his older brother, Hussam, has trained him for years as Palestine’s national weightlifting coach.

At just 18, Mohammed made history as the first Palestinian Olympic weightlifter at the Tokyo 2020 Games.

He then won gold at the 2022 International Weightlifting Federation Junior World Championships in Greece.

Mohammed’s career was taking off, but Israel’s war on Gaza, beginning on October 7 after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, jolted him straight back down to earth.

The focus for Palestinians in Gaza became survival, as Israel relentlessly bombed the enclave, killing almost 40,000 people.

And yet, amid it all, Mohammed remained committed to making it to the Olympics.

His first hurdle: escaping Gaza.

Mohammed and his nephew Tareq, 6, in Gaza [Courtesy of Hussam Hamada]

The ‘passage of death’

Even as rockets and missiles rained down on their Gaza neighbourhood of Tuffah, Hussam continued to coach his brother.

Lifting weightlifting bars inside damaged buildings, the pair did what they could.

“Resources are not what make a champion. It’s the circumstances that make a champion,” Mohammed remarked.

But even with their ongoing preparation, it wasn’t until early 2024 that the Hamadas made the decision to try and make it to the Olympics.

Their father suggested they try to leave Gaza, and Hussam and Mohammed set off for the Rafah crossing with Egypt.

Walking for three days, Hussam described the journey as a “passage of death”.

“Leaving the house was like going to a funeral,” Hussam, who left behind a wife and three boys aged 13, 11 and six, said.

“Tareq – he hugged me and he didn’t let go,” Hussam said of his youngest son. “Jude and Khamis were crying.”

Palestinians inspect damaged houses following an Israeli air strike in the west of Deir el-Balah town on August 6 [Mohammed Saber/EPA-EFE]

Despite the weight of Hussam’s decision to leave, he feels reassured knowing he has his family’s support.

“I feel bad and wish I hadn’t left them but they believe in what we’re doing, in the Olympic dream, and in Mohammed,” Hussam said.

“The Olympic journey is not just Mohammed’s dream but the dream of the whole family.”

For almost a month, the Hamada brothers waited in Rafah for news that would bring their dream one step closer – approval from the Egyptian government to leave war-torn Gaza.

After 23 days of waiting, the confirmation remarkably came through.

In early April, with little more than the clothes on their backs, Mohammed and Hussam bid farewell to Gaza and flew to Thailand, to compete in the IWF World Cup, held on the island of Phuket.

It was the last qualifying event before the 2024 Olympics.

Qualifying for the Games

Even once Mohammed was out of Gaza, qualifying for the Paris Olympics would be difficult.

To get a wild card for the sport of weightlifting, Mohammed was required to attend two qualifying events, including the 2024 IWF World Cup in Thailand.

But Mohammed’s preparation, even without the war in Gaza, was full of complexities.

“As weightlifters, dietary supplements are really important for building strength,” Mohammed said.

“These are not available in Gaza.”

So in 2022, when participating at a training camp in the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed purchased an over-the-counter supplement to preserve his weight and strength.

“We later found out that the dietary supplements were counterfeit and had been laced with banned ingredients, although these ingredients were not listed on the supplement’s container,” he said.

“[I] paid the price for something I did not [knowingly] commit,” he said. “In the end, it was ruled as an ‘unintentional use’ of the substance.”

Mohammed received a temporary suspension.

The IWF World Cup in Thailand would be his first competition in more than two years.

Mohammed (R) and Hussam in Thailand, adjusting to life out of Gaza [Michael Downey/Al Jazeera]

And despite his relief to be back on the international sporting stage, the wounds of the war were as visible as ever.

His severe weight loss was an impediment in a sport that relies so heavily on muscle and power.

“We left Gaza just 10 days ago [and] I had very little time to regain my strength,” Mohammed said, between repetitions at a training gym.

Surrounded by men and women at peak physical fitness, Mohammed recalled what he had to eat to survive.

“For almost 164 days we ate food that is not suitable for humans … including animal food.”

On competition day, Mohammed’s disadvantage was unmistakable.

He lifted 100kg in the snatch and 120kg in the clean and jerk. His personal best is much higher – in 2021 he lifted 141kg in the snatch and 171kg in the clean and jerk.

But going into the competition, Mohammed and Hussam knew he would never qualify on performance alone.

Rather, fleeing Gaza and making it to Thailand was about participating in the final Olympic qualifier.

Despite only making one qualifying event, Mohammed was backed by major sporting bodies.

“We believe an exception will be made for Mohammed to be in the Olympics,” said Nader Jayousi, technical director of the Palestine Olympic Committee.

Jayousi, who has known the Olympian for years, said he believed in Mohammed’s exceptional talent as an athlete.

“But when we have such circumstances – famine, starvation, losing weight, death … I don’t think that’s where we apply strict eligibility criteria,” he said.

“He’s a representative of a whole nation.”

Hussam checks in with family from Doha [Screen grab/Al Jazeera]

A long wait

After the World Cup event in Thailand, the Hamada brothers relocated to Doha, Qatar.

Supported by the Palestinian, Qatari and International Olympic committees, Mohammed began gaining weight and regaining his strength.

Amid the Hamadas’ strict training regime, Gaza remained front of mind.

Strikes continued in their neighbourhood of Tuffah, while news from their parents and Hussam’s children trickled in.

Hussam’s sons would send video updates standing in front of their razed neighbourhood.

“I want to reassure you that we are okay after the shelling at the mosque,” 13-year-old Khamis can be heard saying in one video.

“The truth is that the situation is more difficult than I imagined,” Mohammed said. “From the very first moment I stepped outside of Gaza, I became obsessed with the fear of losing loved ones.

“When I was in the middle of the events, the impact wasn’t as strong – but now I feel a kind of fear, anxiety, and sadness,” he added.

The Hamadas sacrificed proximity to their family for Mohammed’s Olympic goal.

But it wasn’t to be.

On June 6, the IWF published a list of the athletes given wild cards to the Paris Games.

Sitting across from one another in their Doha hotel room, Hussam scanned the website to learn that Mohammed’s name was missing.

“All is well,” the coach quietly said.

Sitting in silence for several minutes, Mohammed finally added, “This is just the beginning for us”.

While Mohammed won’t compete in this week’s Olympic weightlifting competition, he’s adamant this disappointment is just another obstacle.

The brothers have since relocated to Bahrain and continue to train five days a week, with the next summer Olympics in mind.

“​​We have the Los Angeles Olympics 2028,” Mohammed said. “We will come back stronger than before.”