Hamse Abdouh

Nationality	Palestine
Date of birth	January 1, 1991 (1991-01-01) (age 18)

Hamse Abdouh (or Hamza Abdu, Arabic: حمزة عبده‎), born January 1, 1991^[1][2], is a Palestinian swimmer.

He represented Palestine at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In the lead-up to the Games, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on the difficulties he faced in training for the Olympics, having only an 18 metre pool at his disposal rather than a standard Olympic-sized 50 metre pool.^[3] His coach, while noting assistance from the Israeli swimming association^[4], lamented the lack of funding from Palestinian authorities, which had hampered his training.^[2] The British newspaper The Guardian described him, along with Vanuatu's Elis Lapenmal, as one of the Games' "underdogs"^[5], and as such he has also been described as a "potential successor to (Eric) Moussambani".^[6]

Abdouh is the Palestinian record holder for the 100-metre freestyle and 100-metre butterfly.^[2] His personal best in the 100-metre freestyle is 56 seconds.^[7] He has said that he was inspired to become an Olympic swimmer by his cousin Raed Awisat, who swam for Palestine at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.^[2] He lives in East Jerusalem.^[8]

[edit] External links

• "Palestinian swimmer Hamza Abdu swims during a practice session in Jerusalem May 30, 2008.", Reuters image.
• Biography on the official website of the Beijing Olympics

[edit] References