Palestinian Olympic team greeted with cheers and gifts in Paris

Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Palestinian Olympic athletes have been greeted with a roar of a crowd and gifts of food and roses as they arrived in Paris. The chants of “free Palestine” echoing through the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport upon their arrival Thursday show how conflict and the political tension are rippling through the Olympic Games. The world is coming together in Paris at a moment of global political upheaval, multiple wars, historic migration and a deepening climate crisis, all issues that have risen to the forefront of conversation in the Olympics. A 24-year-old Palestinian swimmer born in Saudi Arabia says that “when we come play sports, people realize we are equal to them.”