Episode 26 - Aziza Sbaity

Aziza Sbaity is the fastest woman in Lebanese history, clocking in at 11.73 seconds in the 100 meter dash in Qatar. She has battled a lifetime of adversity to get where she is fleeing the Liberian civil war at the age of 10, becoming estranged from her mother for 8 years, being discriminated against in Lebanon, and competing professionally with hamstring syndrome.

Aziza starts by telling us how she became the fastest women in Lebanese history (1:06), the moment she realised that she can compete professionally (2:43), fleeing Liberia as a kid due to civil war (6:10), and her connection with Liberia and her mother (8:45). She then talks about moving to Lebanon at the age of 10 and adjusting to life there (12:28), her first day of school at SABIS and not knowing that she’d be viewed as an “outsider” in Lebanon (15:25), Lebanese society normalising discriminatory terms (17:46), how to raise people’s awareness on racial matters (21:56), Lebanese government endorsing modern day slavery through the Kafala system (26:03), racial issues even being prevalent with the younger generation (28:13), and how Aziza raised awareness in her school (31:52). We then delve into Aziza gaining an extra year of training due to the 2020 Olympics being postponed (35:20), how she dealt with hamstring syndrome (40:08), if she feels celebrated enough in Lebanon (45:39), and the sports industry in the country needing major reformations (48:02).