ALDASS Sanda

General
FROM SYRIA TO THE NETHERLANDS
She left Damascus, Syrian Arab Republic, in 2015 to flee the Syrian civil war. She went to the Netherlands while her husband and young son stayed in the Syrian Arab Republic, and she then spent nine months in a refugee camp, separated from her family for six of those months. "We went through terrible times, a lot of dear people died without a reason to die. We're just good people like everyone. We just had bad times and we are trying our best to begin in life from zero, and we have to build everything up again, and we're proud about it because not everyone got this chance to live or start all over again. I'm happy to tell people I am a refugee. Running around and doing some exercises filled up my time [in the refugee camp] and also kept me in good mental health, I knew eventually they [her family] would come and that we would have a good place to live in." (olympics.com, 01 Mar 2021, 06 Jun 2021; flamebearerspodcast.com, 17 Aug 2020; 31mag.nl, 10 Jun 2020; stillmedab.olympic.org, 01 Feb 2021)

REFUGEE OLYMPIC TEAM
In 2019 the International Judo Federation [IJF] invited her and her husband to join the IJF's refugee athlete programme. "We didn't have that much support here [the Netherlands] in 2018. We tried to start our sport here, but we couldn't get that much help or support until 2019. The competition manager from the International [Judo] Federation got in contact with my coach and she told him that we can join the International [Judo] Federation's support programme - this is how we started it. This situation also changed my life because it gave me a possibility to be myself. I cannot participate for my country [at the 2020 Olympic Games]. I also cannot participate for the Netherlands. I'm so glad that the IOC [International Olympic Committee] and the International [Judo] Federation have solved this problem, because now we can play for the [IOC] Refugee Olympic Team itself and to follow our dreams. I'm so honoured and so glad that I'm representing the refugees all over the world. You cannot stop [just] because we don't have a country to represent at the Olympics." (olympics.com, 01 Mar 2021, 06 Jun 2021; flamebearerspodcast.com, 17 Aug 2020; 31mag.nl, 10 Jun 2020; stillmedab.olympic.org, 01 Feb 2021)

MOTHERHOOD
She gave birth to two of her three children after moving from the Syrian Arab Republic to the Netherlands. "It's so hard to be a sportswoman and mother and to do your duties during the day. My kids are like, 'Mum, you have to go to the Olympics'. The goal for the whole family is reaching the Olympics." (olympics.com, 01 Mar 2021; Eurosport Facebook page, 21 Nov 2019)