CHENNAI : Badreddin Wais was waiting, twiddling his thumbs. He had already finished his interview with Thomas Bach but didn’t dare hope. Not yet, anyway. So when Bach read out his name during a Zoom gathering last month, Wais was overcome with emotion. He managed a thank you before crying mid conversation. Several years after fleeing Syria and resettling in Switzerland as a refugee, Wais couldn’t help but cry. He was, after all, going to the Olympics, sport’s greatest and grandest theatre. In Tokyo, Wais will take part in the men’s individual time trial at the Fuji International Speedway on July 28.
Wais’ story has been documented on these pages but it’s still worth remembering. Born in Aleppo in January 1991, his first brush with a big ticket international event was the individual time trial event at the junior World Championships in Moscow in 2009. Even though Syria wasn’t exactly known for its pedigree in cycling, Wais wanted to bring the culture of cycling to the country.
However, war broke out soon after. It left Wais with no option but to flee so he travelled a route that’s become all too familiar in recent times: Damascus to Lausanne via Lebanon, Turkey and Greece. He is one among scores to have been on a boat from Turkey to Greece. Ultimately, the Swiss government gave him the necessary papers for him to stay in Lausanne. From 2014 to 2017, he put his cycling career on hold to get his life back to a semblance of normalcy.
At the individual time trial event in the 2017 World Championships, he finished 60th. A big break came when he spoke to Gonzalo Barrio, the project manager of the refugee athletes programme. Barrio liked what he saw so Wais was one among 50 athletes to have secured a ‘current 50 refugee athlete scholarship holders’ two years ago. Getting your name onto this list is the first step towards bring part of the contingent at the Olympics.
He says his level has improved a lot in the last year or so. “For sure my performance has improved in the last 12 months,” he tells this daily. “I was more than a hour behind Filippo Ganna (World champion and favourite to win Olympic gold in individual time trial). Last year I was six minutes behind him.” That’s true. At the 2020 World Championships, Wais’ time was six minutes and 25 seconds slower than Ganna’s.
He openly admits that it’s not been easy as he has to start from zero. “I started from zero and just to focus on my goal (qualifying for the Olympics). The most important is to go on international professional tours. I have now realised my dream. I do not know how the future is going to be. Now I just want to concentrate on doing well in a few events before the Olympics.”
In one of the events (Tour of Estonia, a UCI event), that took place after the refugee team was announced, he finished a creditable 52nd out of a total of 98 riders. “That was good,” he says. “It was about 200 kms. It’s nice to race long. My focus now is on the next 2-3 international races before Tokyo.” It’s been a hard, cruel and unforgiving journey. And Wais’ story is really the story of 24 other ‘athlete scholarship holders’ who will represent the refugee Olympic team in Tokyo. For a few, the Olympics is really the end. For these 25 brave athletes, the Olympics is a starting point towards a better tomorrow.