Zakia Khudadadi grew to become the first-ever Refugee Paralympic Staff medalist on Thursday when she gained bronze in girls’s taekwondo.
The medal marks a serious milestone within the lengthy and winding story of Khudadadi – a narrative that started when she was born with out a forearm and included an escape from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan years in the past.
Shortly after defeating Turkey’s Ekinci Nurcihan within the girls’s -47 class bronze medal match, Khudadadi threw her helmet and mouthpiece into the air.
“It was a surreal moment, my heart started racing when I realized I had won the bronze,” she stated after the match.
“I went through so much to get here,” the 25-year-old added. “This medal is for all the women of Afghanistan and all the refugees of the world. I hope that one day there will be peace in my country.”
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Zakia Khudadadi of Refugee Paralympic Staff, left, competes in opposition to Ziyodakhon Isakova of Staff Uzbekistan in the course of the Girls’s 47kg quarterfinals contest of the Paris 2024 Summer time Paralympic Video games at Grand Palais on Aug. 29, 2024 in Paris. (Steph Chambers/Getty Photographs)
Khudadadi final competed on the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021 for her house nation of Afghanistan. Nonetheless, Afghanistan didn’t ship any feminine athletes to the Paralympics this 12 months. The United Nations reported this 12 months that the Taliban are actually proscribing entry to work, journey and healthcare for a lot of the nation’s feminine inhabitants. Most feminine athletes within the nation should follow in secret, if they’ll follow in any respect, in line with a number of studies.
Throughout the U.S. navy’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in summer time 2021, the Taliban started to retake management of the nation, and Khudadadi realized her pursuit of Paralympic taekwondo wouldn’t be tolerated below the returning Sharia Legislation. Throughout their 1996-2001 rule, additionally guided by Sharia Islamic regulation, the Taliban stopped girls from working, not to mention compete in a fight sport. Ladies weren’t allowed to go to highschool, and ladies needed to put on all-enveloping burqas to exit after which solely when accompanied by a male family member.
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Bronze medallist Zakia Khudadadi of Refugee Paralympic Staff poses throughout medal ceremony after the ladies’s Para Taekwondo K44 -47kg last on day one of many Paris 2024 Summer time Paralympic Video games at Grand Palais on Aug. 29, 2024 in Paris. (Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu by way of Getty Photographs)
Then, simply days earlier than the beginning of the Tokyo Paralympics, she made a plea in a web based video that went viral. She begged the worldwide group to assist her escape Afghanistan.
It labored.
She was smuggled in a foreign country by unidentified actors and was then placed on a flight to Tokyo. There, she was allowed to compete for her house nation of Afghanistan. She famously wore a white hijab for the opening match of the fight sport’s Paralympic debut. She didn’t medal, however she grew to become the primary Afghan lady to seem on the Video games since 2004 and second since 1960.
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Zakia Khudadadi of Refugee Paralympic Staff, left, celebrates after successful the Girls’s Taekwondo K44 -47kg Repechage contest on day one of many Paris 2024 Summer time Paralympic Video games at Grand Palais on Aug. 29, 2024 in Paris. (Steph Chambers/Getty Photographs)
She by no means returned to Afghanistan after that, nor would she compete for the nation on the Paralympics this 12 months. As an alternative, she moved to France the place she skilled for the Paris Video games, and her coaching paid off together with her first Paralympic medal. The French spectators in Paris on Thursday gave her a rousing cheer.
“This medal is fantastic for me but also for all the women in Afghanistan and all the refugees,” she stated in French. “We’re not giving up for equality and freedom in my country.”
Khudadadi says she plans to compete on the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics as properly.
“I want to give this medal to the whole world. I hope that one day there will be freedom in my country, for all the world, for all the girls, for all the women, for all the refugees in the world,” she stated. “And that all of us work towards that, for liberty and equality.”
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