Gold for Palestine: Meet junior karate champ Mariam Bsharat

The occupied West Bank is not an obvious breeding ground for sporting success. But Mariam Bsharat, 17, has beaten the odds to become a karate world champion and is making a new life in Germany. "After the referee lifted my hand to show I'm now a two-time world champion, it was a very overwhelming feeling," Mariam Bsharat said. "Making history once is something, but making it twice is really something else.

I felt very happy and I felt a big relief. Only I know how many sacrifices I made and how many hardships I needed to overcome." Themes of relief, joy and sacrifice are commonplace in the reflections of athletes after a big win. In Mariam Bsharat's case, it's about more than just dedication to training and taking care of the body. The 17-year-old won her second under-21 World Karate Championship gold medal competing for the Palestine national team in Poland in October.

"It was everyday life, seeing people get killed around me and houses getting bombed," she told DW of her upbringing in the occupied West Bank . "I faced challenges in transportation," Bsharat said.