Refugee swimmer Alaa Maso: “If you have a dream work for it, trust the progress and you will rise one day”
On World Refugee Day, the Tokyo 2020 Olympian and IOC Refugee Team member tells Olympics.com why refugees must be embraced into new societies, and why Anthony Ervin is his inspiration.
Swimming
The focus for World Refugee Day on 20 June is the right to seek safety, a message which is embodied in IOC Refugee Athlete Alaa Maso.
The Syrian age-group swimming star and his brother Mohamad fled their war-torn homeland in 2015.
After a perilous boat journey from Turkey to Greece, they crossed through seven other European countries to begin a new life in Hannover, Germany.
In 2019 Alaa was awarded an IOC Refugee Athlete Scholarship, which allowed him to focus on the sport that gave him so much joy, and eventually helped him to integrate into society.
Integrating refugees into society
His sporting dreams then came true when he was selected to compete for the IOC Refugee Team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021.
In Japan he was reunited with his brother Mohamad competed for Syria in triathlon, but it has been seven years since he has seen his parents in person.
For him, World Refugee Day is about supporting displaced people and helping them integrate into their new homes.
“It's a great sign of solidarity from the United Nations releasing such days to honour refugees, because in modern societies refugees are a huge part of new communities,” Alaa Maso to Olympics.com.
“For example in Germany, many doctors in the hospitals are from Syria. There are scientists that fled Ukraine who also started working in German universities and such examples show us that refugees could be integrated very quickly and could start a new life if they had the chance.
_“_Of course, there are a lot of small obstacles, but they never come from the community. It's always between the person and themselves. If they want to take their chance or not. But luckily, a lot of people have used their chances very well and they started a very good new life in western countries. So I'm very happy for everyone that had the chance to start their life. And I'm happy for everyone they are trying.”
Becoming a professional swimmer also gave Alaa the opportunity to compete alongside his sporting heroes.
"My very favourite swimmer is Caeleb Dressel from the United States. He’s the shark. He's just unbelievable. I saw him in Tokyo, I had the chance to meet him, I didn’t have the chance to speak with him in Tokyo," the 22-year-old continued to Olympics.com
He was very focussed, you know, he was very like... eventually it paid off for him, he got five gold medals. That's something amazing, you know, like to be Mr. Olympia.
"My second favourite is Florent Manaudou from France. He also has a huge standing in swimming, winning the London 2012 gold medal, Rio 2016 silver and Tokyo 2020 silver. So that's a great journey as well.
Inspired by USA's Anthony Ervin
Alaa’s story has inspired many people, displaced or non-displaced, around the world.
But one of the athletes that motivated him, is former USA swimmer Anthony Ervin.
The three-time Olympic champion quit after winning gold in the 50m freestyle at Sydney 2000, before returning to the sport in 2011 and winning the title again at Rio 2016.
“I did the Abu Dhabi Short Course World Championships in 2021 and I received a book from the FINA about Anthony Ervin’s story,” Alaa continued.
“He has a similar story to mine because I had to stop for four years because of the war in Syria. From the end of 2011 until October of 2014 I had no training. I came from very, very far away, and without training had to start my career over in Germany.
“He had to stop swimming and then he had to fight a lot for his career. I just felt a lot of similarities between us.”
When Alaa competed at Tokyo 2020, he felt a great sense of honour in representing not only the 15 million displaced Syrians, but also the wider population of 82 million displaced people around the world.
New conflicts in the world today mean that number now stands at over 100 million people.
“My message to everyone coming from foreign countries to other foreign countries like Germany, Netherlands, Poland, wherever: If you have a dream, just work for it. Just believe in yourself and trust me, the day will come.
"I used to hear this and not believe it. I used to hear influencers or bloggers giving this advice to believe in yourself. And I was like, ‘Yeah, it's easy to say it when you're already a champ’, but once you're there and once you achieve your dreams, I listened to them and it actually worked for me. So my message is to always work with patience and to always wait for your moment because if you trust your progress, you will rise one day."