RedHobo.com RedLeb v2; the musings of a Lebanese hobo. Now in exciting seaweed flavor

Against all odds

Who would have thought that a Lebanese would bring back an Olympic medal? Well, Edward Maalouf knew it all along; he only wishes his home government appreciated it.

What's your favorite place in Lebanon?

Every single bit of it, all of Lebanon is wonderful.

You're not here often though are you?

I follow my training. Most of it is done abroad, some in Holland, some in South Africa, depending on the weather. Sometimes I train in Switzerland.

Because we don't have the facilities for it...

For sure. If you train here you're afraid to get killed by a car. I mean the only place I can train here is the Marina and my warm-up alone is 50km so I have to keep going around. Plus you need variation in the roads to get good.

But you've managed to do it anyway...

It takes a lot of work, training and sacrifice and if you want to be a professional athlete, and that's normal. You have to leave your family, travel all the time - and while that may sound nice if you travel every week it's too much.

Is that why we have fewer athletes than we should?

I think we have enough athletes but they just didn't get the chance at training that I did. You need to figure out what you're good at, what you should avoid and where you can improve. I got involved with many athletes and contacts. You need to be involved with people much better than you.