Zakia Khudadadi won the bronze medal in women's taekwondo on Thursday, becoming the Refugee Paralympic Team's first medallist.
The medal marks a major milestone in Khudadadi's long and winding story, which began with her being born without forearms and includes her escape from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan many years ago.
Immediately after defeating Turkey's Ekinci Nurcihan in the women's under-47 bronze medal match, Hudadadi threw her helmet and mouthpiece into the air.
“It was a surreal moment. My heart started beating when I realised I had won the bronze medal,” she said after the competition.
“I have overcome so many obstacles to get here,” the 25-year-old added. “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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Zakia Khudadadi (left) of the Refugee Paralympic Team competes against Zhiyodakon Isakova of Team Uzbekistan during the women's 47 kg quarterfinals of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games at the Grand Palais on August 29, 2024 in Paris. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Khudadadi represented his native Afghanistan at the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics, but Afghanistan did not send a female athlete. Paralympics The United Nations reported this year that the Taliban now restrict work, travel and access to healthcare for much of the country's female population, and reports suggest that most of the country's female athletes must practice in secret, if at all.
As U.S. troops withdrew from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, the Taliban began to take control of the country again, and Hudadadi found that her continued participation in the Paralympic taekwondo competitions was not permitted under the reinstated Sharia law. The Taliban's rule from 1996 to 2001 was also based on Islamic Sharia law, which prohibited women from working, much less participating in martial arts competitions. Girls were not allowed to attend school, and women had to wear full-body burqas when going outside, but only if accompanied by a male relative.
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Refugee Paralympic Team bronze medalist Zakia Khudadadi poses during the medal ceremony after the women's para taekwondo K 44-47 kg final on the first day of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games at the Grand Palais on August 29, 2024 in Paris. (Mustafa Yalçin/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Then, just days before the opening of the Tokyo Paralympics, she made a plea in a video that went viral, begging the international community to help her leave Afghanistan.
It worked.
She was escorted out of the country by unidentified individuals and then placed on a plane to Tokyo, where she was allowed to compete representing her native Afghanistan. She wore her famous white hijab in the opening match of the martial art's debut at the Paralympics. Although she did not win a medal, she became the first Afghan woman to compete at the Olympics since 2004, and the second since 1960.
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Refugee Paralympic Team athlete Zakia Khudadadi (left) celebrates after winning the women's taekwondo K 44-47 kg repechage during the first day of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games at the Grand Palais in Paris on August 29, 2024. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
She never returned to Afghanistan or competed for her country at this year's Paralympics. Instead, she went to France to train for the Paris Games, and that training paid off when she won her first Paralympic medal, as the French crowd in Paris gave her a roaring response on Thursday.
“This medal is great for me and for all Afghan women and all refugees,” she said in French. “We will not give up equality and freedom in our homeland.”
Kudadadi says he also plans to compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics.
“I want to give this medal to the whole world, in the hope that one day it will bring freedom to my country, to every girl in the world, to every woman in the world, to every refugee in the world,” she said, “and that we will all work towards that goal, for freedom and equality.”
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