Noureddine Hadid (Left: Photo taken from his Twitter account) ; Marc-Anthony Ibrahim (centre, photo: Mohammad Yassine) ; Aziza Sbaity (right, photo NNA)
"We will not be silenced." This is how Aziza Sbaity, the Lebanese sprinter holding the Lebanese record in the 100m and 200m, expressed herself on her X account on Friday, after several weeks of an interminable saga around the athlete benefiting from the "wild card" offered to Lebanese athletics at the Paris Olympic Games.
But as the first events of the 2024 Olympics began on Wednesday, and with athletics competitions set to take place in a week, Lebanon has still not been able to officially name who will compete at the Stade de France and is on the verge of losing its place in the discipline.
As it did during the Tokyo Games three years ago, the International Athletics Federation, World Athletics, offered Lebanon the chance to nominate an athlete to participate in one of the following three races: the 100m, the 800m, or the marathon. However, this "universality place" granted to the Cedar country has sown discord within the small world of Lebanese running, which has been torn apart ever since.
Three athletes, Noureddine Hadid, Aziza Sbaity, and later Marc-Anthony Ibrahim, were put in the competition, amidst contradictory announcements. While the Lebanese Athletics Federation (FLA) swears by the sprinter who already represented it in Tokyo, Noureddine Hadid, it systematically excluded the other two, who were successively proposed by the Lebanese Olympic Committee (COL) to preserve Lebanon's chances of seeing one of its runners at the starting line on August 2 in Paris.
What has happened since the "wild card" was offered? Why is Lebanese athletics at risk of losing its place in Paris? L'Orient Today takes look back at this absurd sequence of events
Aziza Sbaity or Noureddine Hadid?
When Lebanon inherited the precious ticket, eyes first turned to "the fastest woman in Lebanon," named among the 100 most influential and inspiring women in the world this year by the BBC, Aziza Sbaity. It was her name that the COL had included in the initial list sent to our publication on June 28. A boon for the 33-year-old runner who saw, undoubtedly, one of her last chances to participate in the Olympics in her career. "We had the option to choose between a man or a woman. We therefore decided to send the names of Aziza Sbaity and Noureddine Hadid to World Athletics, which asked us to choose between the two," says a source within the FLA.
Aziza Sbaity, at the 200m Arab championship in Marrakesh, last Sunday (Photo provided by Aziza Sbaity)
However, publicly, nothing is official yet, and the athletes remain in limbo. On July 2, Noureddine Hadid took to social media, posting a scathing message on his Instagram account.
"Through politics and favors, enormous pressure is being exerted on the Lebanese Athletics Federation to withdraw my name, eliminate all the hard work I have done, and nominate another athlete in my place." Without explicitly naming her, the sprinter openly targeted Aziza Sbaity, then highlighting that he had "1135 points" against "1112 points" for her in the World Athletics world ranking.
The day after this publication, when Aziza Sbaity faced "hate messages" on social media, Noureddine Hadid landed in Beirut, having left the country to train for competitions preceding the Paris Games - according to a close source who spoke to us under the condition of anonymity. The federation then sent his name to World Athletics - which did not respond to our interview request.
"We had until July 7 to select our athlete. We waited for Nour to arrive in Lebanon to do so. We chose him because, compared to Aziza Sbaity, he had the most points in total," says the FLA source, noting that each gender has its own ranking within World Athletics and that both are No. 1 in Lebanon in the 100m category.
Sprinter Noureddine Hadid. (Photo taken from his X account)
Publicly announcing on July 4 the name of the sprinter who will represent Lebanese athletics at the Paris Olympics, the federation used a peremptory tone: its choice of the athlete who "holds the best world ranking in the 100m" strictly complies with the rules and criteria established to select the most qualified athlete to represent Lebanon at the Olympic Games, explained the body in a statement.
"Those who follow athletics know who should represent Lebanon at the Olympics. There are no other athletes who achieve such results," a source within the FLA told us at the time.
Prison case
Except this source omitted to mention that the day before, Noureddine Hadid had been arrested at Beirut's Rafic Hariri Airport upon arrival from a flight from Paris. The reason? The 31-year-old athlete, also a soldier since 2010, is officially considered a "deserter" by the Lebanese army since his departure for France on October 15, 2023.
This sudden exile was reportedly motivated, according to a security source close to the case, by the runner's fear of being directly affected by the army's mobilization in southern Lebanon, as clashes between Hezbollah and Israel began on October 8, in the wake of the war in Gaza. Contacted by L'Orient today, Noureddine Hadid did not respond to our requests.
The FLA publicly deplored the arerst on July 5, without letting go of its favorite, asserting that it would do "everything possible" for him to be "allowed to participate" in the international competition. It also indicated that the athlete had sent a "letter of apology" and "asked for forgiveness" from the military institution.
However, before Noureddine Hadid's return to Lebanon, the army had sent several letters to the FLA indicating its refusal to allow him to "represent the country at the Olympics," according to a security source. Nevertheless, the FLA remains firm: "We asked them, 'If he comes to Lebanon, can his situation be regularized?'" continues the source within the federation. "Let him come, and things can be sorted out," the military institution reportedly responded.
But the army affirms it has never deviated from its stance since the beginning of the story: "A deserter cannot escape the measures taken against him. For us, it is impossible for him to participate in the Olympics while he is still banned from leaving the country," says a security source.
"The army helped him a lot in recent years so he could train and pursue his career before he decided to flee to France. But just because someone runs fast does not allow them to rise above the country's laws", they added.
The source within the FLA retorts: "There is something called the reason of state: if someone participates in the Olympics, the state must help them... and he served two weeks in prison for it!"
With all these hesitations, Lebanon has missed the deadline set by World Athletics on July 7 to register one of its athletes for one of the events that still had vacant spots. But the FLA does not change course and decides to keep Noureddine Hadid's name at all costs, rather than officially naming another athlete. Why didn't they do so? "We were told that the situation would be resolved," continues the source.
"Aziza would never have been against the selection of Noureddine. She would have supported him 100%; he has been her teammate for over 13 years. Her complaints are against the federation, which is willing to sacrifice Lebanon's spot at the 2024 Olympics," says a close source to the runner, adding that the athlete is "devastated," "confused," and in a state of "constant stress." "She had hope of being selected until July 22."
Final clap?
But then there was another twist. As Marc-Anthony Ibrahim, the highest-ranked Lebanese sprinter in all categories, who reached the 964th position in the World Athletics men's world ranking, had just put away his running shoes for the season, he learned of his selection by the COL, which unveiled a new list of athletes on Monday, without giving more details. The next day, the FLA was furious and took several measures announced by a statement.
Sprinter Marc-Anthony Ibrahim (Photo: Mohamad Yassine)
Firstly, it decided to suspend the Lebanese army athletics club from all activities on Lebanese tracks, before banning Georges Assaf, the current coach of Aziza Sbaity and Marc-Anthony Ibrahim, who also trained Noureddine Hadid for several years, without giving a reason.
The coach is now prohibited from "representing Lebanon in any activity related to Lebanese athletics inside or outside Lebanon." The FLA drives the point home by adding that it will not approve any other nomination than that of Noureddine Hadid for the 2024 Olympics, under threat of suspension, going as far as to state that "if his participation is not possible, the FLA will not join the Lebanese delegation and will not send any player or administrator."
This is exactly what could happen. On Thursday, a source within the COL reported that "administrative details" prevented Marc-Anthony Ibrahim's trip to Paris. Lebanese record holder in the 400m and 400m hurdles, he is set to compete in a distance far from his specialty: "The only remaining vacant spot is for the men's 100m," confides the source mentioned above. "We are trying to see if Marc Anthony can be accepted in the 100m... otherwise, the spot will remain vacant."
On Saturday morning, L'Orient Today tried to get to the bottom of the story from the Lebanese Olympic Committee and the Lebanese Athletics Federation.
"We have tried by all means to resolve the problem, but the International Athletics Federation only responds to the Lebanese federation, which now has 24 hours to agree on the athlete," reports a source within the committee.
The "problem" lies in the fact that "Marc Anthony is not a 100m specialist; otherwise, we would have let him compete," explains a source within the FLA. When asked if they prefer to leave the spot vacant rather than confirm Marc-Anthony Ibrahim's name, they respond: "We don't know. We will discuss it."
