First Afghan woman to compete internationally since Taliban takeover seeks Olympic gold in Paris
PARIS: Zakia Khudadadi has spent most of her life breaking glass ceilings. Or rather, breaking them with a sidekick.
The Paralympic taekwondo champion made history in 2021 in Tokyo, becoming the first Afghan woman to compete in an international sporting event since the Taliban regained control of her country following the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops after 20 years of war.
Initially barred from competing following the rise of the Taliban, she was later evacuated from Afghanistan and allowed to compete for her country following an appeal from the international community.
At the 2024 Paralympics, part of the larger Olympic competitions in Paris, Khudadadi said she would compete on behalf of her country’s women, who have been gradually stripped of their rights over the past three years.
“It's hard for me because I want to compete under the flag of my country,” she said. But “life for all girls and women in Afghanistan is forbidden. It's over. Today I'm here to win a medal in Paris for them. I want to show strength to all women and girls in Afghanistan.”
Khudadadi competes for the Refugee Paralympic Team, while other athletes are seeking medals under the Afghan flag, such as Olympic sprinter Kimia Yousofi. Yousofi's parents fled during the previous Taliban rule and she was born and raised in neighboring Iran. She said she wanted to represent her country, flaws and all, and “be the voice of Afghan girls.”
For Khudadadi, she started taekwondo at 11, training in secret at a gym in her hometown of Herat because there were simply no other opportunities for women to play the sport safely. Despite a closed culture around her, Khudadadi said her family was open and would push her to be active.
Further complicating his difficulties competing in Afghanistan, he said, was his disability.
Despite having “one of the world’s largest per capita populations of people with disabilities” due to conflict, people with disabilities are often shunned and blocked from Afghan society, according to Human Rights Watch. Women are often disproportionately affected.
Born without a forearm, Khudadadi said she spent her life hiding her arm. It wasn’t until she started competing that things started to change.
“Before I started playing sports, I protected myself a lot with my arm. But little by little… I started showing my arm, but only in the gym. Only when I competed,” he said.
When she started competing, she said she felt the stigma begin to melt away. Taekwondo became her path to freedom again and gained attention in 2016 when she won an international medal for the first time.
That all changed five years later, when the Taliban rose to power in spectacular fashion following the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. As he prepared for Tokyo, Khudadadi was trapped in the country’s capital, Kabul.
The International Paralympic Committee initially issued a statement saying the Afghan team would not compete in the 2021 Games “due to the grave situation in the country.” But in an effort to compete, Khudadadi posted a video appealing for help from the international community.
“Please, I urge everyone, from women around the world, to women's protection institutions, to all government organizations, to not let the rights of an Afghan citizen in the Paralympic movement be taken away so easily,” she said. “I don't want my fight to be in vain.”
In 2021, she was evacuated to Tokyo to compete, leaving her family behind.
In doing so, she became the first Afghan female Paralympian in nearly two decades. In 2023, she won gold at the European Para Championships.
After fleeing Afghanistan, she settled in Paris, but said she misses the mix of cultures that characterizes her country and the warmth of the people who roam the busy streets of Kabul.
“I hope that one day I can return to Afghanistan, to Kabul, to live together in freedom and peace,” he said.
Thousands of miles away, in Khudadadi's hometown of Herat, Shah Mohammad, 38, was among those cheering on Khudadadi and other Afghan athletes in Paris.
“We are happy for the Afghan women who participated in the Olympics, but my wish is that one day the women of Afghanistan can participate in the Games and be the voice of the women of the country,” Mohammad said.
That day is unlikely to come anytime soon.
The Taliban have barred women from much of public life and barred girls from studying beyond the sixth grade as part of tough measures they have imposed since 2021 despite initially promising a more moderate government. As recently as January, the United Nations said the Taliban were now restricting Afghan women’s access to work, travel and healthcare unless they were married or had a male guardian.
Not only did they ban women and girls from playing sports, they also intimidated and harassed those who once played them.
But even before the Taliban returned to power, women's sports were opposed by many in the country's deeply conservative society, as they were seen as a violation of women's modesty and their role in society.
However, the previous Western-backed government had programs that encouraged women's sports and school clubs, leagues and national teams.
For Khudadadi, the IOC refugee team has helped her and other athletes who fled their countries continue their careers. The Paralympian trains long hours, her sights set on a gold medal in Paris, with deep frustration as she watches the progress of women in her country erode and Afghanistan once again slip out of the global spotlight.
A question simmers in Khudadadi's mind: “Why has the world forgotten Afghan women?”
However, for others like Mohammad Amin Sharifi, 43, watching Khudadadi and other Afghan Olympic athletes in Paris, especially the women, was a source of pride for people like him in Afghanistan.
“Right now, we need the voices of Afghan women to be raised in every way possible and the Olympics is the best place to do that,” Sharifi said in Kabul. “We are happy and proud of the women who represent the Afghan people.”
