Gold for the West Bank: Meet Palestinian karate champ Mariam Bsharat

"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. "I wasn't able to go from one city to another to be able to train with other people, so that I can actually prepare for competitions. I needed to travel to other countries like Jordan or Egypt ... which was very hard for me. And, financially, the support wasn't really the support an elite athlete needed."

Growing up in Nablus , Bsharat had a narrow path to the top. But initially, it was her own reluctance that threatened to stop a champion career before it started.

Copyright for this text belongs to Deutsche Welle.