Adam Maraana

Adam Maraana (אדם מראענה; born 7 July 2003) is an Arab-Israeli swimmer who has qualified to represent Israel in the 2024 Paris Olympics. He won bronze medals at the 2019 European Youth Olympics and at the 2023 European U-23 championship in the 100-metre backstroke. In 2024 he matched the Israeli national record in the 100 back. Maraana will represent Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in swimming in the 100 metre backstroke on 28 and 29 July 2024. He says that in this dark time, he believes that as an Arab who is an Israeli citizen he can succeed as a goodwill "mini-ambassador".

Early and personal life
Maraana was born and lives in Haifa, Israel, and is an Arab citizen of Israel. His father, named Nazi Maraana, is a Muslim Arab-Israeli and manages a beach in the Bat Galim neighborhood of Haifa, and his mother Alexandra Nikonov is Jewish and teaches piano; both are Israeli citizens. His parents met on a beach in Haifa. His younger sister Ella was a rhythmic gymnast. His father is very much in favor of Maraana representing the State of Israel.

Maraana said: "I am Israeli and come from a mixed city, and things like this happen when a Jew marries a Muslim woman and vice versa. The beauty of this city, in this country where there is so much mixing." He served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in the Israeli Navy. He did this despite having had the opportunity not to serve (because his father is Arab and the IDF exempts the Arab community from the draft), which he refused. He said: "Even though I could get away with it because my father is Arab-Muslim, I didn't choose to use it, and I wanted to contribute my part – everyone joins the army, so why shouldn't I join? I didn't want to feel different, and I came to contribute."

Swimming career
His father threw him in the water when he was three years old, to teach him to swim. His swim club is Maccabi Haifa, and Maraana trains at Israel's Wingate Institute near Netanya, where his coach is Carmel Levitan.

He said that: "When I stood at the podium after the Israeli championships and heard the national anthem, tears fell from my eyes. At the multi-nation competition where I was first on the podium, I took the flag and held it tight. I sang the national anthem proudly, and said it was the craziest moment in my life."

2019–23; European U-23 championship bronze medal
At the 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival, Maraana won a bronze medal at 16 years old in Baku, Azerbaijan in the 100m backstroke in a time of 56.63. In 2020 at the 54e Challenge International de Geneve in Switzerland, he won the gold medal in the 50 back with a time of 57.16, and the silver medal in the 200 back with a time of 2:06.29. At the 2020 Israeli Olympic Qualification Meet at the Wingate Institute, at 17 years old he won the gold medal in the backstroke as he swam a time of 55.64.

At the 2021 Union Cup in Israel, at 18 years of age Maraana set a new Israeli junior record in the 100 back with a time of 55.07. At the 2022 Malmsten Swim Open Stockholm in Sweden, he won the gold medal in the 50 back in a time of 25.98.

Maraana won a bronze medal in the 2023 European U-23 Swimming Championships in Dublin, Ireland in the 50 back with a time of 25.30. At the same competition he swam the 100 back in 54.31, coming in fifth. He won a bronze medal at the 2023 Israeli Championships in the 100 back in a time of 54.92.

2024–present; Israeli record
In January 2024 at the 57th Challenge International de Geneve in Switzerland, Maraana won the gold medal in the 50 back, with a time of 25.65. In April 2024 at the Eindhoven Qualification Meet in the Netherlands, he won the gold medal in the 100 back in a time of 54.62, and a bronze medal in the 50 back in a time of 25.34, which through July 2024 was the third-fastest Israeli time at the distance.

In June 2024, at 20 years of age he won the 100 back gold medal at the Israeli Olympic Trials with a time in the preliminaries of 53.60 at the Wingate Institute. Maraana's time matched the Israeli record set by Olympian Yakov Toumarkin seven years earlier. He qualified to swim in the 100 back in the 2024 Paris Olympics, as he swam faster than the Olympic ‘A’ cut of 53.74. He said: "I surprised myself. I’m very happy."

Maraana has committed to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the fall of 2024. He will swim for coach and former two-time Olympic gold medalist Mark Gangloff on the North Carolina Tar Heels swimming team.

His best personal time in the 100 back is 53.24, which Maraana swam in 2021 at 18 years of age.

Maraana says that in this dark time he believes that he can succeed as a goodwill "mini-ambassador". He said: "I'm proud to represent Israel, I feel a bit like a mini-ambassador, and I'm proud of it. As someone who came out of the Arab community and considers himself Israeli, I am the best proof of the integration of both communities."

2024 Paris Olympics
Maraana will represent Israel at the 2024 Summer Olympics at the La Défense Arena in Paris in swimming in the men's 100 metre backstroke on 28 and 29 July 2024.