Mobility for All Award
This award is given to children who have drawn a dream car based on their unique ideas, especially a car that is friendly to all people and allows everyone to enjoy the freedom of mobility.
Introducing a Judge
IBRAHIM AL-HUSSEIN (Paralympian) Athlete Profile
- Youth and Teen Years (up to 2007):
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Trained as a swimmer with my father (who is two times Asia swimming Champion). Aspired to be an Olympian.
Trained in Judo and was Judo National Junior National Team Member.
- 2008-2009:
- Mandatory military service. Completely out of sports.
- 2010:
- Returned to swimming and to pursue my goal of being an Olympian.
- 2011:
- Syria Civil Conflict-another stop to my sport career.
- 2012:
- Bomb incident where I lost my left foot and injured my left leg.
- 2012-2015:
- Struggle with leaving Syria, living as a refugee, seeking treatment, and working 10-12 hour days to survive.
- 2015:
- return to swimming and started wheelchair basketball.
- 2016:
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Athens and Greece swim competition – 1st Place.
Selected for the first time in history where a refugee carried the Olympic Torch in Athens on its way to Brazil.
Rio Paralympics, flag bearer and first refugee to ever be selected to compete in the Paralympics under the Paralympic flag.
Received the Whang Youn Dai Award. Award for athlete who most exemplified the spirit of Paralympic Games in Rio 2016.
From The United States Sports Academy, received the 2016 Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias Courage Award.
The Spanish Lawyers General Council, received The 2016 Human Rights Award as a Special Refugee. -
- 2017:
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Greece Championship - 1st Place
Qualified for and competed in the World Series Para Swimming in Berlin, Germany.
Qualified for and competed in the World Para Swimming Championships in Mexico.
- 2018:
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Greece Championship – 1st Place
Qualified for and competed in the European Para Swimming Championships in Dublin, Ireland.
- 2019:
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Greece Championship – 1st Place
Qualified for and competed in the World Para Swimming Championships in London, England.
Athlos Foundation. After Rio Paralympics and realizing good recognition and media attention started thinking how to use that to help people like me. The idea of forming an All Refugee Wheelchair Basketball Team came to my mind. So in 2019 I founded Athlos Foundation to be a place where disabled refugee athletes find a way to worldwide competition stages and become the VOICE for all disabled refugees.
Inaugurated the first refugee teal in Leipzig, Germany in hopes to build a strong team and start participation in local and international events as we get qualified for such thing. -
- 2020:
- Everything halted for COVID 19
- 2021:
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Qualified for and competed in the World Series Para Swimming in Italy and achieved 3rd Place.
Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Competed in Tokyo representing the refugee team.
- Media:
- Since 2016 I have conducted hundreds of media interviews in newspapers, magazines, radio, and television. And I was featured in a documentary about refugees.
- Motivational Speaker:
- I also serve as a motivational speaker for many elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools, along with giving speeches to community. I have done that in Japan, and do it regularly in Greece where I speak the language fluently.
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- Worth Mentioning:
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Few months prior to Tokyo I suffered from a persistent lung infection that put me in the hospital on three different occasions and left me functioning in Tokyo with one lung.
Since then I had to stop swimming and seek treatment until the matter is resolved. Now I have resumed my training and I hope with your help I am able to secure time in an indoor pool and pay for a top level coach so I can keep perusing my dream.
- About my performance:
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From2008-2022, I had a period of 6 years completely away from sports. Two for compulsory military service and 4 due to me injury and being a refugee on the way to Greece. My return to swimming showed one improvement after another as I kept training, participating, and improving my time performances ending with a 3rd place in the World Series Para Swimming in Italy, 2021.
I believe I still have at least two Paralympics that I can qualify for and multiple European and World championships, and the best is yet to come.
I am fully committed to be the voice of disabled refugees and dedicate the rest of my life to help them deal with the horrible injustice they were subjected to. -
