Three years ago, Zakia Khudadadi was in hiding. From the TalibanHaving trained secretly in her own backyard in Afghanistan, she went on to win a bronze medal and make history as the first member of the Refugee Paralympic Team to win a medal at the Paralympics.
On Thursday at the Grand Palais in Paris, the 25-year-old Defeated Türkiye’s Nurcihan Ekinci To win the bronze medal in the women’s 47g taekwondo competition, Khudadadi lost in the quarterfinals but made it onto the podium after winning a reserve match after Morocco’s Naoal Raarif withdrew from the bronze medal race.
“It was a surreal moment. My heart started pounding when I realised I had won the bronze medal,” Khudadadi said. AP News“I have overcome so many obstacles to get here. This medal is for all the women of Afghanistan and all the refugees around the world. I hope that one day peace will come to my country.”
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Born without a forearm, Khudadadi began practising taekwondo in secret at a secret gym in Herat, Afghanistan, at the age of 11.
Following the Taliban’s rise to power in 2021, Khudadadi was no longer able to compete in the sport he loved. CNNShe was initially unable to leave the country and was forced to go into hiding, secretly training for the Paralympics in her backyard. In a moment of desperation, Kudadadi The video petition that went viralShe was eventually placed on Spain’s evacuation list and airlifted to safety by the Royal Australian Air Force.
“I was told that if I stayed, the Taliban would come and take me away because as a female athlete I was not following their rules,” she told CNN. “I had only one option: to leave.”
