The 19-year-old is one of two Palestinians who will compete at the Aug. 13-19 games in Greece. The other athlete is 17-year-old Raad Aweisat, a swimmer from Jerusalem who has qualified for the 100-meter butterfly.
Abu Bkheet is something of an oddity in the impoverished, conservative Gaza Strip (news - web sites). The sight of the tall, thin woman running through the streets of this ramshackle town in her green track suit used to cause a mini-uproar, and children at times would throw rocks at her as she zipped past.
"It's not easy to be a runner in Gaza, especially for a female," she said. "It's strange because of our traditions. It's hard to see a girl running in the streets."
But she's since won the support of her neighbors, joyful that one of their own will carry the Palestinian flag before the world at the Olympics. Now, admiring children crowd around her. And after she came in first among the women runners in a local track meet on Friday, a Palestine TV news crew rushed for an interview.
Palestinians gained International Olympic Committee (news - web sites) recognition in 1993 after the signing of Israeli-Palestinian interim peace accords. A Palestinian team competed at their first Olympics in Atlanta in 1996.
Abu Bkheet, a middle-distance runner, will be the first female runner to represent Palestinians at the Olympics. Her best time in the 800-meter race is 2:28.11.
She took up running at age 12, and her training amounts to this:
Each morning she downs a teaspoon of olive oil — said by generations of Palestinian matriarchs to bring good health — and sets out on 90-minute training runs in a simple pair of generic, no-name running shoes. Without a proper track, she jogs along dirt roads that nearly disappear among the shifting sand near the Mediterranean coast. Her 17-year-old sister Wesam and three other girls from her extended families come along for company.
The runners often dodge Israeli army checkpoints and hear not-so-distant gunfire.
"I know it is a big responsibility to be the first Palestinian woman runner in the Olympics and to represent Palestine," Sanaa said. "I know it's going to be very hard to win."
She lives with four sisters and two brothers in a small house with a roof of corrugated metal sheeting. In the living room hang medals she's won in competitions in Gaza, Egypt, Jordan and Iran in the past three years.
Her idol is Maria Mutola of Mozambique, the reigning 800-meter Olympic champion.
On Friday in Gaza City, Abu Bkheet came in first for the women in a local track meet. Handing her a medal and trophy, the awards announcer referred to her — hopefully and with pride — as the "Olympic champion." Her mother kissed her.
On the back of the runner's plain red T-shirt was the word: "Palestine."
