WAIS Ahmad Badreddin

Type of rider
Time-trialist (olympics.com, 07 Apr 2021)

General
MOVE TO SWITZERLAND
In 2014 he decided to he wanted to escape the conflict in the Syrian Arab Republic. He initially went to Turkey to join his family who had already left the Syrian Arab Republic, and then moved on to Switzerland. "I knew I had to go. Those were very, very tough moments in my life. In the beginning, the plan was not really to come to Switzerland. The plan was to be far away from this war. I wanted to be in the centre of Europe and to continue to Belgium, because Belgium was for me the home of cycling. But on the way there, the travel was very long and I was very tired. I stopped in Switzerland and I think I fell in love with the mountains and all these lakes." (edition.cnn.com, 20 Jun 2021; olympics.com, 07 Apr 2021; elpais.com, 28 Jun 2018; reuters.com, 20 Sep 2017)

STARTING AGAIN
His journey from the Syrian Arab Republic to Switzerland took five months. He then had to wait for his asylum claim to be processed, which meant that he was unable to start training again until late 2015. "I couldn't do anything in Lausanne in those initial few months. I had to wait for the papers to come through. The biggest challenge in my life was to continue cycling in Switzerland. It was a hard time because I had to start again from zero, which was really difficult. Sport is very, very important in my life, because it helped me to stay strong in Europe and to continue with my life. It helped me to keep challenging, to keep moving and to keep my mind open. It is also very helpful when learning a new culture, meeting other people, and learning a new language." (olympics.com, 07 Apr 2021; sportsgazette.co.uk, 10 Sep 2020; newindianexpress.com, 23 Jun 2020)