This Afghan Woman Taekwondo Athlete Has Made History As The First Refugee To Win A Medal At The Paralympics

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Taekwondo athlete Zakia Khudadadi who fled Afghanistan after the Taliban took over, has made history, winning the first-ever medal for the Refugee Paralympic Team at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. 

On Friday, Aug. 30, the 25-year-old Afghan athlete, who was born with an arm disability, won a bronze medal in the women’s 47kg taekwondo category, defeating Turkey’s Ekinci Nurcihan.

Khudadadi began training in taekwondo at the age of 11 in a hidden gym in her hometown in western Afghanistan.

She was inspired to pursue taekwondo after Afghanistan won its only Olympic medals in the sport in 2008 and 2012.

Khudadadi rose to prominence at 18 after winning the African International Para Taekwondo Championship in 2016 and was on her way to competing in the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021 when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

Following the takeover, the Afghan National Paralympic Committee announced that Afghanistan would not attend the Games.

All  airports in the country were also shut, making it impossible for her to travel to Japan to compete.

She released a public video asking the international community for help.

“The fact that we ourselves have lifted ourselves from this situation, that we have achieved so much, it cannot be taken lightly,” she said in the video. “We have gone through a lot of hardships. I don’t want my struggle to be in vain and without any results.”

She was eventually airlifted out of Afghanistan through a coordinational international effort and was able to compete in the Tokyo Games.

Although Khudadadi lost to Ukraine in the women’s under-49 kg category at the Tokyo Games, she became the first Afghan woman athlete to compete in the Paralympics in 17 years.

After the Tokyo Paralympics, she settled in Paris, where she continued training at France's National Institute of Sport Expertise and Performance..

Khudadadi went on to win several competitions, including the 2023 European Para Championships, and was eventually offered the opportunity to compete as part of the refugee team at the 2024 Paralympic Games in her adopted home city.

“It was a surreal moment, my heart started racing when I realized I had won the bronze, “ she said in her winning speech.

“I went through so much to get here. 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,” Khudadadi added.

Since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021, they have rolled back decades of progress on women's rights, including banning women from participating in sports publicly, forcing women athletes to have to train in hiding.

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