Team GB Paralympics Profile - Ali Jawad

Ali Jawad (originally from Lebanon) competes in the 59kg powerlifting class. He was born without legs, and at his birth, a doctor asked his father if they should end his apparently doomed life. On escaping Lebanon and coming to Britain with his family, he started to shine. In his Judo classes, he was found to have immense upper body strength.

On the eve of his Paralympic debut at Beijing, he fell ill, later to be diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. Although he still competed, he finished ninth. Ali says he never really felt disabled until he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. During his illness, he experienced sickness, fatigue, collapsing from the pain and blood in his stools. Ali says he lost 25kg in eight weeks. He was told that no Crohn’s sufferer had ever won a medal in the Olympics or Paralympics. Due to his illness, he retired for 6 months, and had an operation to remove part of his intestines. But he wouldn’t give up.

He finished fourth at London 2012, narrowly missing out on a medal, but has since won gold and smashed a world record at the Asian Open Championships, and then the same again at the World Championships in 2014. After starting a strict diet, Ali set his world records, which restored his faith in himself and his sport.

He is currently the reigning World and European champion and hopes to add to his medal glory.