The first Afghan woman to compete internationally since the Taliban regime took power is aiming for gold at the Paris Olympics
PARIS: Zakia Kudadadi has spent most of her life breaking glass ceilings. No, she's spent her life shattered glass ceilings with her sidekick.
The taekwondo Paralympic athlete made history in Tokyo in 2021, becoming the first Afghan woman to compete in an international sporting event since the Taliban took control of the country again after two decades of war, with U.S. and NATO troops withdrawing.
Originally blocked from competing due to the rise of the Taliban, she was later withdrawn from Afghanistan and allowed to compete for her country following an international appeal.
Kudadadi said she was competing at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris on behalf of the women in her country who have been increasingly disenfranchised over the past three years.
“It's hard because I want to compete under my country's flag,” she said. But “for all the girls and women in Afghanistan, life is forbidden. It's over. Today, I'm here in Paris to win a medal for them. I want to show strength to all the women and girls in Afghanistan.”
While Khudadadi competes on the Refugee Paralympic Team, others, like Olympic sprinter Kimia Yousofi, are aiming for medals under the Afghan flag. Yousofi's parents fled during the previous Taliban rule, and she was born and raised in neighboring Iran. She wanted to represent her country, flawed as it is, and “be a voice for Afghan girls,” she said.
In Khudadadi’s case, she started practicing taekwondo at the age of 11, training secretly in a gym in her hometown of Herāt because there were no other opportunities for women to practice the sport safely. Despite the closed culture around her, Khudadadi said her family was open and pushed her to be active.
She said she also has a disability that makes it difficult for her to compete in Afghanistan.
According to Human Rights Watch, people with disabilities are often marginalized and excluded from Afghan society, despite the country having “one of the highest per capita populations of people with disabilities in the world” due to conflict. Women are disproportionately affected.
Born without a forearm, Kudadadi said he spent his entire life hiding his arms. It wasn’t until he started competing that his arms began to change.
“Before I started playing sports, I used to protect my body a lot with my arms. But little by little… I started showing my arms, but only at the club. Only when I was competing,” she said.
She said the stigma began to fade when she began competing. Taekwondo became her path to freedom once again, and she gained attention when she won her first international medal in 2016.
That all changed five years later, when the Taliban made a dramatic comeback after the Biden administration withdrew from Afghanistan. While preparing for Tokyo, Khudadadi was trapped in the country’s capital, Kabul.
The International Paralympic Committee originally released a statement saying the Afghanistan team would not be competing in the 2021 Games “due to the serious current situation in the country.” However, in order to compete, Khudadadi released a video asking for help from the international community.
“Please, I urge women around the world, women’s protection organizations, all government agencies to ensure that the rights of Afghan women citizens in the Paralympic movement are not so easily taken away,” she said. “I hope my fight will not be in vain.”
She fled to Tokyo in 2021 to compete, leaving her family behind.
In doing so, she became the first female Paralympic athlete from Afghanistan in nearly 20 years. In 2023, she won gold at the European Paralympic Championships.
After fleeing Afghanistan, she settled in Paris, but said she was drawn to the mix of cultures that colored her country and the open-mindedness of the people roaming the bustling streets of Kabul.
“I hope that one day we can return to Afghanistan, to Kabul, and live together in freedom and peace,” she said.
Thousands of miles away from Khudadadi's hometown of Herat, 38-year-old Shah Mohammad was among those supporting Khudadadi and other Afghan female athletes in Paris.
“I am happy for the Afghan women who are participating in the Olympics, but I hope that one day women in Afghanistan will participate in the Olympics and be a voice for women in the country,” Mohammad said.
That day doesn't seem likely to come anytime soon.
The Taliban has imposed harsh measures since 2021, excluding women from public life and blocking girls from studying beyond the sixth grade, despite initially promising more moderate rule. The United Nations said in January that the Taliban was restricting access to work, travel and healthcare for Afghan women who are unmarried or do not have a male guardian.
Not only did they ban women and girls from playing sports, they also threatened and harassed those who once played sports.
But even before the Taliban came to power, women's sports were met with opposition from many in conservative society, who viewed them as an infringement on women's modesty and role in society.
Nonetheless, previous Western-backed governments had programs to promote women's sports and school clubs, leagues and national teams.
In Khudadadi’s case, the IOC’s Refugee Team helped her and other athletes leave their countries to continue their careers. The Paralympian trains long hours in hopes of winning gold in Paris, but is deeply frustrated to see progress for women in her country eroded and Afghanistan once again left out of the global spotlight.
One question boils in Khudadadi's mind: “Why has the world forgotten Afghan women?”
Still, for people like 43-year-old Mohammad Amin Sharifi, watching Khudadadi and other Afghan Olympians, especially the women, in Paris was a source of pride for those like him back home.
“Right now we need to make sure that the voices of Afghan women are heard in every way possible, and the Olympics are the best place to do that,” Sharifi said in Kabul. “We are happy and proud of the women who represent the Afghan people.”
