Gold for Palestine: Karate's Mariam Bsharat a rare sporting success

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. 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. But in Mariam Bsharat's case, it's about more than just dedication to training and taking care of the body. The karate athlete, 17, won a second under-21 World Championship gold medal in Poland earlier this month competing for her native Palestine .

"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.