Syrian judoka (born 1995)
Muna Dahouk (Arabic: منى دهوك; born 27 August 1995) is a judoka from Syria who competed at the 2020 Olympic Games as part of the IOC Refugee Team.
Early life
She started judo in Damascus when she was six years old.[2] Her father was a judo teacher and her sister, Oula, also competes. After the civil war broke out, their father was killed.[3] In 2019, she fled Syria and joined her mother in the Netherlands, and settled in 's-Hertogenbosch.[4][5]
Career
Dahouk competed at the 2019 Budapest Grand Prix, the 2020 Paris Grand Slam and the 2020 Düsseldorf Grand Slam.[1][2]
Dahouk was selected as part of the IOC Refugee Team in June 2021.[6] She competed at the 2020 Olympic Games in the Women's 63 kg and the Mixed team events.[2] In the individual event she faced 2019 Pan American Games champion Maylín del Toro Carvajal.[3]
Dahouk took part in the 2023 European Judo Championships in Montpellier.[7]
She is competing in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris as part of the Refugee Olympic Team. She told CBS that she wants to use her platform as a refugee athlete to break down stereotypes and challenge misconceptions about refugees: "I will represent the refugees around the world – to show people what the refugees can do. We are not weak people. We can be athletes, we can be students, we can be anything we want."[5]
Personal life
She is the cousin of fellow judoka Sanda Aldass.[8] She graduated from a commercial and banking institute in Syria and later studied sport in the Netherlands.[2] She features in the Waad Al-Kateab documentary We Dare to Dream.[9]
References
External links
