In Yemen, between missile fire from Houthi rebels and American-British retaliatory strikes, shooter Yasmine al-Raimi is training with the means at hand, hoping to fly the flag for her country at the Paris Olympics.
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” I am proud as a woman representing Yemen (…) and as a Yemeni athlete at the Olympic Games, it is the dream of every athlete “, says the shooter invited for the second time by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Wearing a black abaya, protective goggles and headphones, the only woman among the four members of the Yemeni delegation prepares for the air pistol shooting event (10 m) at a sports club in the capital, Sanaa.
In the absence of specialized structures, the club offers her a shared space in a room with blue walls, with very basic equipment, but Yasmine al-Raimi, 38, has known worse in more than a decade of war in Yemen.
In 2016, two years after the capture of the capital by Houthi rebels and the intervention a few months later of a military coalition supporting the government, the violence forced him to put his career on hold.
The fighting left hundreds of thousands dead and plunged Yemen into one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.
“ There was no electricity, I had nowhere to train ” she says. ” There was even a time when I turned the roof of my house into a shooting range. “.
The shooter only returned to competition in 2020, winning the silver medal at the Arab Championships in Egypt.
A year later, she participated for the first time in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
” I didn’t stop training (…) morning and evening”she remembers. However, she finished 52nd out of 53 competitors.
Lack of support
As the situation calms down in her country, thanks to a temporary truce negotiated by the UN in 2022, Yasmine al-Raimi is participating in the Asian Games in China and the World Championships in Indonesia.
A few months ago, in the context of the war in the Gaza Strip triggered on October 7, 2023 by the bloody attack of the Palestinian Hamas against Israel, the Houthis, allies of the Islamist movement, opened a new front by attacking ships linked to Israel off the coast of Yemen, leading to retaliatory strikes by the United States and the United Kingdom against their positions in Sanaa, and in other cities under their control.
But the Yemeni shooter was not discouraged.
” Yasmine trains mostly alone, she is very invested despite the lack of means (…) especially a professional trainer “, says Amel Moudhich, who plays this role alongside the athlete despite her lack of experience.
That ” strengthens its determination and its will to achieve its objective (…) of carrying high the flag of Yemen ” she adds.
In the absence of public aid, Yasmine Al-Raimi relies on her family and her own savings. Most of the training camps and trips were done at her own expense, she assures.
The secretary general of the Yemeni Olympic Committee, Mohammed Abdallah al-Ahjari, also says he depends on international and regional bodies, deploring the lack of interest from the authorities.
” I say to those in charge, whether in the world of sport or in the country in general: Yemeni sport must be given the attention it deserves so that it can develop. “.