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Adam Maraana

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Adam Maraana (Hebrew: אדם מראענה; born 7 July 2003) is an Arab-Israeli swimmer who has qualified to represent Israel in the 2024 Paris Olympics. He won bronze medals at the 2019 European Youth Olympics and at the 2023 European U-23 championship in the 100-metre backstroke. In 2024, he matched the Israeli national record in the 100 back. Maraana represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in swimming in the 100 metre backstroke. He said that during a time of tension within the Arab community in Israel, he believes that as an Arab who is an Israeli citizen he can succeed as a goodwill "mini-ambassador".[2]

Adam Maraana
Maraana in 2024
Personal information
Native nameאדם מראענה
Born (2003-07-07) 7 July 2003 (age 21)
Haifa, Israel[1]
Sport
SportSwimming
StrokesBackstroke
ClubMaccabi Haifa
College teamUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (committed)
CoachCarmel Levitan
Medal record
Men's swimming
Representing  Israel
European U-23 Swimming Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2023 Dublin 50 m backstroke
European Youth Olympic Festival
Bronze medal – third place 2019 Baku 100 m backstroke

Early and personal life

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Maraana was born and lives in Haifa, Israel, and is an Arab citizen of Israel.[3][1][4] His father, Nazi Maraana,[a] is a Muslim Arab-Israeli[3][5] and manages a beach in the Bat Galim neighborhood of Haifa. His mother Alexandra Nikonov is a an born into Russian father and Ashkenazi Jewish mother who immigrated from Russia who teaches piano. Both parents Israeli citizens.[6][2][7] His parents met on a beach in Haifa.[8] His younger sister, Ella, was a rhythmic gymnast.[6][2][1] His father supports Maraana representing the State of Israel.[9][10]

Maraana said: "I am Israeli and come from a mixed city, and things like this happen when a Jew marries a Muslim woman and vice versa. The beauty of this city, in this country where there is so much mixing."[6][2][1]

He served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in the Israeli Navy, turning down an exemption from the draft as a member of the Arab community.[6][2][1] Maraana said: "Even though I could get away with it because my father is Arab-Muslim, I didn't choose to use it, and I wanted to contribute my part – everyone joins the army, so why shouldn't I join? I didn't want to feel different, and I came to contribute."[2][1]

Swimming career

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Maraana's father threw him in the water when he was three years old, to teach him to swim.[6][2] His swim club is Maccabi Haifa, and he trains at Israel's Wingate Institute near Netanya, where his coach is Carmel Levitan.[11][12][6][2][4]

He said that:

When I stood at the podium after the Israeli championships and heard the [Israeli] national anthem, tears fell from my eyes. At the multi-nation competition where I was first on the podium, I took the flag and held it tight. I sang the national anthem proudly, and said it was the craziest moment in my life.[6][2][1]

2019–23; European U-23 championship bronze medal

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At the 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival, Maraana won a bronze medal at 16 years old in Baku, Azerbaijan, in the 100m backstroke in a time of 56.63.[13][14] In 2020 at the 54e Challenge International de Geneve in Switzerland, he won the gold medal in the 50 back with a time of 57.16, and the silver medal in the 200 back with a time of 2:06.29.[3] At the 2020 Israeli Olympic Qualification Meet at the Wingate Institute, at 17 years old he won the gold medal in the backstroke as he swam a time of 55.64.[15]

At the 2021 Union Cup in Israel, at 18 years of age Maraana set a new Israeli junior record in the 100 back with a time of 55.07.[16] At the 2022 Malmsten Swim Open Stockholm in Sweden, he won the gold medal in the 50 back in a time of 25.98.[3]

Maraana won a bronze medal in the 2023 European U-23 Swimming Championships in Dublin, Ireland, in the 50 back with a time of 25.30.[17][4] At the same competition he swam the 100 back in 54.31, coming in fifth.[3][4] He won a bronze medal at the 2023 Israeli Championships in the 100 back in a time of 54.92.[14]

2024–present; Israeli record

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Maraana in 2024

In January 2024, at the 57th Challenge International de Geneve in Switzerland, Maraana won the gold medal in the 50 back, with a time of 25.65.[14] In April 2024, at the Eindhoven Qualification Meet in the Netherlands, he won the gold medal in the 100 back in a time of 54.62. He also won a bronze medal in the 50 back with a time of 25.34, which through July 2024 was the third-fastest Israeli time at the distance.[18][19][20][3]

In June 2024, at 20 years of age he won the 100 back gold medal at the Israeli Olympic Trials with a time in the preliminaries of 53.60 at the Wingate Institute.[21][7][3] Maraana's time matched the Israeli record set by Olympian Yakov Toumarkin seven years earlier.[3] He qualified to swim in the 100 back in the 2024 Paris Olympics, as he swam faster than the Olympic 'A' cut of 53.74.[3] He said: "I surprised myself. I'm very happy."[3][22]

Maraana has committed to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the fall of 2024.[3][23] He will swim for coach and former two-time Olympic gold medalist Mark Gangloff on the North Carolina Tar Heels swimming team.[23]

His best personal time in the 100 back is 53.24, which Maraana swam in 2021 at 18 years of age.[24]

Maraana says that in this dark time he believes that he can succeed as a goodwill "mini-ambassador".[2][25] He said: "I'm proud to represent Israel, I feel a bit like a mini-ambassador, and I'm proud of it. As someone who came out of the Arab community and considers himself Israeli, I am the best proof of the integration of both communities."[8]

2024 Paris Olympics

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Maraana represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in Paris in swimming in the men's 100 metre backstroke.[26]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ First name pronounced as "nah-zee", in contrast to the Nazi party, which is pronounced as "naht-see".

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Patriotic Israeli-Arab at European Swimming Championships Has Olympics on his Mind". The Judean. 11 August 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Ido Rakovsky (19 June 2024). "Israeli Arab Jewish Athlete Swims Against the Current: 'I'm Great Proof of Integration'; Adam Maraana, who has a Muslim father and a Jewish mother, will be the first Arab athlete to represent Israel in the Olympics in half a century. In this dark time, he says he can succeed as a 'mini-ambassador' too," Haaretz.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Adam Maraana". Swimcloud. 8 July 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d "Arab-Israeli swimmer becomes first athlete in 48 years to represent Israel at Olympics". AllIsraelNews. 5 June 2024.
  5. ^ "A stroke of dignity at the Olympics," The Christian Science Monitor, 23 July 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g אורן אהרוני (11 August 2022). ""רוצה להיות השחיין הערבי-ישראלי הראשון באולימפיאדה";". ישראל היום.
  7. ^ a b Yulia Karra (10 June 2024). "Arab Israeli athlete qualifies for Olympics; Twenty-year-old swimmer Adam Maraana qualified for the 2024 Olympics in Paris in the 100-meter backstroke event after equaling a national record". Israel21c.
  8. ^ a b "Viac dobrých anjelov ako on: Izraelsko-arabský olympionik je doslova pokladom tohto sveta". Sportky.sk. 21 June 2024.
  9. ^ Esi Mman (6 June 2024). "אדם מראענה: הולך לייצג את המדינה בכבוד". One.
  10. ^ איפרגן, סתיו (6 June 2024). "אני יהודי ואבא שלי מוסלמי, הוא גאה שאני מייצג את מדינת ישראל". Ynet.
  11. ^ Casey Murphy (18 June 2024). "UNC Chapel Hill Gains Israeli Paris Olympic Qualifier Adam Maraana". SwimSwam.
  12. ^ Guy Dr (6 June 2024). " אדם מראענה קבע קריטריון אולימפי והשווה את שיא ישראל ב-100 גב", Shvoong.
  13. ^ "מדלייה ראשונה לישראל במשחקי הנוער בבאקו: ארד לשחיין אדם מראענה ב- 100 מ' גב", הוועד האולימפי בישראל
  14. ^ a b c "Adam MARAANA | Results". World Aquatics.
  15. ^ Retta Race (16 December 2020). "Gorbenko Grabs Israeli 50 Free Age Record". SwimSwam.
  16. ^ Retta Race (30 March 2021). "Soloveychik Becomes First Israeli Man Under 3:50 in 400 Free". SwimSwam.
  17. ^ Liz Byrnes (12 August 2023). "Mona McSharry Makes It Two Golds & Chmielewski Twins Go 1-3 at LEN European U23 Championships". Swimming World Magazine.
  18. ^ "Israel Long Course (50m) Rankings". Swimrankings.
  19. ^ Matthew De George (13 April 2024). "Marrit Steenbergen Lowers Her Dutch Record in 200 IM in Double Day in Eindhoven". Swimming World Magazine.
  20. ^ Retta Race (13 April 2024). "Rapsys Clocks 48.55 100 Free Lithuanian Record on Day 3 of Eindhoven Qualification Meet". SwimSwam.
  21. ^ Retta Race (7 June 2024). "Records Fall & Israeli Roster Grows at Olympic Trials". SwimSwam.
  22. ^ Ido Rakovsky (6 June 2024). "Meet the First Arab Israeli Athlete to Represent Israel at the Olympics Since 1976; 'I surprised myself, and I'm very happy,' says Israeli swimmer Adam Mara'ana, who is heading to Paris," Haaretz.
  23. ^ a b Casey Murphy (18 June 2024). "UNC Chapel Hill Gains Israeli Paris Olympic Qualifier Adam Maraana". SwimSwam.
  24. ^ "Adam Maraana," EuroSport.
  25. ^ Etgar Lefkovits (20 June 2024). "In first, Arab swimmer to represent Israel at Olympic Games; Adam Maraana of Haifa will be the third Israeli Arab to represent Israel at the games," JNS.
  26. ^ "Israel's delegation to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games". Wingate Institute (in Hebrew). 25 June 2024. Archived from the original on 26 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
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