Resilient Retaj

Retaj with her father, Salem Sayeh, a former Libyan national volleyball team captain.

UNDER the watchful eye of her father, Libyan Retaj al-Sayeh practised discus throws near the edge of a dilapidated running track at Tripoli’s Sports City.

Despite injury, a patriarchal society uninterested in women’s sport and disruption from Libya’s chronic insecurity, Sayeh has set her sights on this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.