The Syrian story at the Tokyo Olympics didn't end with the exit of the youngest participant, Hind Zaza (12 years old), but returned to the spotlight with two brothers, one competing under the Syrian flag and the other on the refugee team. A photo of the Masho brothers, Muhammad and Alaa, embraced during the official opening ceremony of the Olympics, which was postponed for a full year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, took social media by storm.
Some news channels and global agencies even published the picture, claiming the brothers reunited in the Japanese capital after years of separation due to the ongoing conflict in Syria since 2011. This brutal war has led to the deaths of around 500,000 people, caused massive destruction of infrastructure and productive sectors, and displaced millions within and outside the country. The story of Muhammad and Alaa reflects the ongoing Syrian tragedy for a decade; the war has killed hundreds of thousands and forced millions to emigrate, imposing harsh conditions on the brothers' lives.
Among those who left the country were the Masho brothers, who moved to Europe and have been living there for some time. According to Safwan Al-Hindi, the media officer accompanying the Syrian delegation to the Tokyo Olympics, the image “took on dimensions beyond what we could imagine.” He added, “The story is not true at all. Muhammad and Alaa live together in Germany and arrived in Tokyo together,” noting that “a large part of their family still lives in Syria.”
Al-Hindi pointed out that the meeting during the opening ceremony was an “impromptu reunion between two brothers,” but that “some media and social media have spun things in a different direction.” Muhammad Masho is participating with the Syrian delegation in the triathlon, while Alaa is swimming with the refugee team, which also includes Syrian swimmer Yusra Mardini, who carried the flag at the Tokyo opening and previously participated under the same flag in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Al-Hindi indicated that “Alaa Masho is the one who decided to participate with the refugee team... and it’s not true that he requested to participate with the Syrian delegation and was rejected.” He went on to mention that “there are many Syrian athletes living outside Syria who compete under its flag, like Muhammad Al-Sabbagh (triathlon), for example.”
Attempts to reach Muhammad Masho were made by AFP, but he requested to focus on his athletic competitions that forced him to halt all of his social media accounts, as he confirmed himself. Syrians entered the Tokyo Olympics with dreams of breaking the barrier of three medals their champions have obtained in previous appearances, the last being 17 years ago in Athens 2004.
Syria is participating with a small delegation of five male athletes and one female athlete represented by Majd Al-Din Ghazal (high jump), weightlifter Ma'in As'ad (+109 weight), Ahmed Hamsho (equestrian), swimmer Ayman Kalziya (200m butterfly), Muhammad Masho (triathlon), and table tennis player Hind Zaza (12 years old), the youngest athlete in the Games, who exited in the first round on Saturday after losing to veteran Austrian player Jia Liu (39 years old) 4-0.
Syria has won three medals in its previous Olympic participations since 1948, consisting of one gold medal won by Ghada Shouaa in the heptathlon in Atlanta 1996, one silver medal for freestyle wrestler Joseph Atieh in the 100kg category in Los Angeles 1984, and one bronze medal for boxer Nasser Al-Shami in the 91kg category in Athens 2004. Firas Ma'ala, the president of the Olympic Committee, hopes for good results despite the challenges faced in the preparation compared to Rio 2016 during the war crisis in the country.
