Adam Maraana

Adam Maraana (; 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 represented Israel at the 2024 Paris Olympics in swimming in the 100 metre backstroke. He said that during a time of tension within the Arab community in Israel, he believes that as an Arab who is an Israeli citizen he can succeed as a goodwill "mini-ambassador". His father, Nazi Maraana, is a Muslim Arab-Israeli and manages a beach in the Bat Galim neighborhood of Haifa. His mother Alexandra Nikonov was born to a Russian father and an Ashkenazi Jewish mother who immigrated from Russia who teaches piano. Both are Israeli citizens. His parents met on a beach in Haifa. His younger sister, Ella, was a rhythmic gymnast.

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." 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 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 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.

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."