Though they could never remove her Olympic heptathlon gold medal, Ghada Shouaa says the Assad family stole her joy. She adds that her win in 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta has always been for the Syrian people and never for those who claimed to represent them.

"The dictator, Hafez Assad (father of recently ousted ruler Bashar Assad), threatened to kill me through his intelligence services," she tells DW. "I was promised a lot after my achievements for my country. People would just ask me, 'Did he meet you?' I answered with 'no,' and then I would get threats that meant I would have to lie and say that he met me, honored me, and gave me my financial due.

"I'm glad that I never met Hafez nor his son, the degenerate Bashar. I thank those who freed us from this tyrant."

The Assad regime, which had endured for 54 years through father and son, fell on December 8 as rebels took over. Shouaa refers to that day as "The Syrian wedding day." She hopes it will lead to a better future for Syria and a country that belongs to all those who call it home.

Living in Syria impossible

Ghada has lived in Germany for almost 25 years and was punished financially for not returning from her injury rehabilitation in Germany following the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

"The amount of oppression and injustice inside me is unbelievable," she says.

She had been subject to persistent death threats, including after the last time she spoke to DW in 2021. The most recent of these was when she found explosives under her car about two months ago.

The heptathlete returned to her homeland in 2022 to be with her sick mother. While she was back, the government made her an offer she couldn't refuse: being an advisor to the country's National Olympic Committee. She says neither this nor a picture she was forced to take in 2015 with the civil defense force was an endorsement of the regime. In fact, she was under severe duress.

"Sednaya prison (a notorious government prison and death camp) was a clear message to the world. People ask why I didn't speak out. Well, I couldn't because I lived suppressed and under threats and could simply disappear underground like others.

"I was scared for the safety of my family there. In Syria, I'm considered Syrian and not German, so I lived in constant anxiety. I considered leaving the country again many times, but I got messages reminding me of the power and reach of the intelligence service and its criminal system."

At the time, Ghada had a glimmer of hope that things might change and she could contribute. That hope was dashed, and she was later removed from Syria's delegation to the Paris Olympics in 2024.

"This contract was just ink on paper. They ignored me. They didn't even give me my salary for a whole year. Finally, I got half of it. I might have made the wrong decision to take this job, but I had to think of my family as well. I hoped that tomorrow would be better."

Ghada, who was in Syria in the weeks leading up to the fall of Assad's regime, felt the pain of the people there. 

"All the people were fed up. Something had to happen," she says. "I was already planning to come back to Germany, especially as the rest of my family were planning to leave as well. I wanted to speak and shout. There was nothing more to lose anyway."

Corruption widespread in ahtlete's graveyard

The Syrian General Sport Federation, formed in 1971 by Hafez Assad shortly after his ascent to power, is the country's highest sports association. Ghada refers to it as "the athlete's graveyard." It has always been linked to the ruling Al Ba'ath party and its military mindset.

"Nothing has changed in its mentality or structure since then. It's become worse and worse over time. They remove one corrupt person and hire another one who is just alike. They destroyed a whole generation of Syrian athletes," Ghada laments.

Now it has been dissolved. Its president, Feras Mouala, a former swimmer, was also president of Syria's Olympic Committee, has close ties to the Assad family and comes from the same Alawite ethnoreligious minority.

Mouala ruled with an iron fist, and no one dared oppose him. He owned a chain of gyms that benefitted from the contacts he made as the head of Syrian sports, and his brother-in-law was particularly close to Bashar Assad.

"Feras Mouala, the corrupt briber by the degenerate regime, must be put on trial in front of all Syrians," says Ghada. "He used the name of the Olympic committee to benefit his own family. He threatened many athletes using the fact that he has relatives in the presidential palace."

Assad occasionally presented himself at sports events, including the 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou. Ghada had hoped to be able to speak with him about the state of sports in Syria but was denied. She was further disappointed when a promised sports complex in her home city of Muhardeh was downgraded.

"They stole it and gave it to another organization. And after decades of waiting, they renamed a sports hall under my name, which was opened in 2022 and was used later as a military base, and it was out of my control."

Fly the flag?

Ghada wants the new government to establish an independent sports ministry, just like other countries. "We have to kill the corruption mentality that was created by Hafez Al Assad and his Son Bashar, the cancer who spread and destroyed our sport organization," she says.

Rules based on mutual respect, sending promising athletes abroad for training and bringing back talents forced to flee the country are among the changes Ghada would like to see, whether she is involved in them or not.

But one thing she would like to keep is the flag that she won her gold medal under in Atlanta 1996. Some athletes consider it tarnished, but not Ghada. "The flag belongs to the people and not to Al Assad's regime. Why would you want us to go backwards and not forwards?"

That sentiment is indicative of her general view of the situation in her homeland at the moment. "The new government should pick the right people, and Syrian women should take a big part in leadership positions," she says. "Building sports is an important part of any country's success, whether politically or economically."

While the situation in Syria remains chaotic and unclear, Ghada retains hope that her homeland can move forward and escape the traps others in the region have fallen into.

Edited by: Matt Pearson