{"id":826,"date":"2016-09-16T14:44:08","date_gmt":"2016-09-16T14:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpolio.org\/?p=826"},"modified":"2016-10-25T14:46:48","modified_gmt":"2016-10-25T14:46:48","slug":"iraqi-born-u-s-army-vet-powers-polio-paralympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpolio.org\/?p=826","title":{"rendered":"Iraqi-born U.S. Army Vet Powers Through Polio at Paralympics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-827\" src=\"https:\/\/beyondpolio.org\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/2000px-IPC_logo_2004.svg_-300x226.png\" alt=\"2000px-ipc_logo_2004-svg\" width=\"300\" height=\"226\" srcset=\"https:\/\/beyondpolio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/2000px-IPC_logo_2004.svg_-300x226.png 300w, https:\/\/beyondpolio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/2000px-IPC_logo_2004.svg_-150x113.png 150w, https:\/\/beyondpolio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/2000px-IPC_logo_2004.svg_-768x578.png 768w, https:\/\/beyondpolio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/2000px-IPC_logo_2004.svg_-1024x771.png 1024w, https:\/\/beyondpolio.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/2000px-IPC_logo_2004.svg_.png 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Despite being diagnosed with polio as a child, powerlifter Ahmed Shafik eventually became an athlete for the Iraqi Paralympic team. But because his country\u2019s Olympic committee was disappointed with his performance, he was jailed for one year. After being released, he fled Iraq and moved to the United States as a refugee. Eventually he became an American citizen and soldier, and today is a member of the U.S. Paralympic team.<\/p>\n<p>Now in his early 40s, he has reacquainted himself with the sport and concluded his career as a powerlifter by coming in sixth place during the men\u2019s competition at the Rio 2016 Paralympics earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are proud that he represented the USA,\u201d says his couch, Mary Hodge, calling him \u201ca hard-working, dedicated athlete who sets high goals and [works] hard to achieve them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For the full article, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/iraqi-born-us-army-vet-powers-through-polio-at-paralympics\/\" target=\"_blank\">visit TimesOfIsrael.com<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite being diagnosed with polio as a child, powerlifter Ahmed Shafik eventually became an athlete for the Iraqi Paralympic team. But because his country\u2019s Olympic committee was disappointed with his performance, he was jailed for one year. After being released, he fled Iraq and moved to the United States as a refugee. Eventually he became [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Iraqi-born U.S. Army Vet Powers Through Polio at Paralympics - Beyond Polio<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beyondpolio.org\/?p=826\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Iraqi-born U.S. Army Vet Powers Through Polio at Paralympics - Beyond Polio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite being diagnosed with polio as a child, powerlifter Ahmed Shafik eventually became an athlete for the Iraqi Paralympic team. But because his country\u2019s Olympic committee was disappointed with his performance, he was jailed for one year. After being released, he fled Iraq and moved to the United States as a refugee. 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