Jordan returns with 3 medals fromParis Paralympics

AMMAN — The 2024 Olympic edition wrapped up in Paris with the Paralympic Games as Jordan’s team returned home with three medals afterjoiningover 4000 athletesfrom around the world,competing in 22 sports.

In its 10th time at the Games, Jordan’s powerlifter Abdul Karim Khattab repeated his Tokyo Games gold and seta new world and paralympic record; teammate Omar Qaradhi won the second gold medal- his fourth overall paralympic medal over the years, and Ahmad Hindi added  a bronze in athletics (shot put) after he won gold in Tokyo.

The delegation also included powerlifters, record four-time medalist Jamil Shibli, who had won medals at every Games since 2004; Rio silver medalist Tharwat Hajjaj, Beijing bronze medalist Mu'taz Juneidi, Asma Issa and Mohammad Shneiti.

Table tennis, which secured Jordan’s first ever gold in 2000 and has always been a leading sport for the disabled was missing from competition.

Since participating as of 1984, Jordan has now won a total of 22 medals at the Paralympics (7 gold, 7 silver and 8 bronze).  The total count includes a  silver and two bronze won at the Stoke Mandeville Games, which preceded the Paralympic Games.

The Tokyo edition was the most successful for Jordan with a historic four gold medals in powerlifting and athletics and a bronze in table tennis. The four gold medals were the first after 20 years since the lateMaha Barghouti's first gold (wheelchair table tennis) at the 2000 Sydney Games. 

A look back at past Paralympic participations demonstrates how sports for the disabled has gained recognition for Jordan through impressive performances on the international scene. Jordan's medals tally started in 1984, when the late Aida Shishani won bronze in athletics, 100 and 200m and the Barghouti silver in shot put at the Stoke Mandeville Games. 

At the 1996 Atlanta Paralympics,  Imad Gharbawi won a silver medal in the discus followed by Barghouti’s gold in Sydney 2000. Two medals were added in Athens 2004 when Jamil Shibli won silver in the shot put while the women’s table tennis team (Khitam Abu Awad and Fatima Azzam) won bronze. 

In 2008, Jordan won two silvers and two bronze. Omar Qaradhi took silver in power lifting; Shibli added a second silver with a new Paralympic world record in the shot put, Mu’taz Juneidi won a bronze in power-lifting and the women's wheelchair table tennis team won bronze when  Fatima Azzam and Khitam Abu Awad repeated their bronze medal win in Athens 2004.

The 2012 Paralympics was the most disappointing participation after the impressive women in table tennis failed to advance past the round of 16 while power lifters, some of whom continued to be on the team to date, were embroiled in controversy amid sexual assault complaints and were returned home before later facing legal proceedings in the UK.

In Rio 2016, Jordan won three medals in power lifting - two silvers by Tharwat Hajjaj (86 kg) and Omar Qaradhi (49 kg), while 2004 and 2008 silver medalist Jamil Shibli won bronze (+107 kg). 

In Tokyo 2020, Ahmad Hindi set a new world record and won a gold in athletics (shot put); three golds were secured in  power lifting by Omar Qaradhi(49 kg),  Abdul Karim Khattab (88 kg),  and Jamil Shibli (+107 kg) and a bronze was secured by veteran table tennis star Khitam Abu Awad in wheelchair table tennis.

Paralympic athletes are grouped in classes defined by the degree of function presented by the disability. Traditionally there are athletes who belong to six different disability groups in the Paralympics Movement: Amputee, cerebral palsy, visual impairment, spinal cord injuries, intellectual disability and a group which includes all those who are not within the afore mentioned groups.

Athletes with disabilities have usually made up for the failure to achieve better results on the Olympic scene, where even qualifying to the world’s premier sports gathering has been a daunting task, and since first participating in 1980, the Kingdom earned its first Olympic medal in 2016 and so farhas four in total (1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)

Since the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Jordan first won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics by Ahmad Abu Ghaush (taekwondo -68 kg). At the Tokyo Games, Saleh Sharabati grabbed  a silver (taekwondo - 80kg),  and Abdul Rahman Masatfeh (Karate -67 kg) won a bronze. At the 2024 Paris Games a silver medal was added by Zaid Mustafa(taekwondo - 68kg).