Three years ago, Zakia Khudadadi was in hiding of the Talibantraining in secret in her backyard at home in Afghanistan. Today, she is a bronze medalist and has just made history as the first athlete from the Refugee Paralympic Team to win a medal in Paralympics.
On Thursday at the Grand Palais in Paris, the 25-year-old defeated the Turkish Nurcihan Ekinci in her fight to claim bronze in the women’s 47g tae kwon do category. After losing in the quarterfinals, Khudadadi emerged victorious in her comeback fight to claim a place on the podium when Morocco’s Naoual Laarif withdrew from the bronze medal competition.
“It was a surreal moment; my heart started racing when I realized I had won bronze,” said Khudadadi. AP News. “I have been through so much to get here. This medal is for all the women in Afghanistan and all the refugees in the world. I hope that one day there will be peace in my country.”
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Khudadadi was born without a forearm and began practicing tae kwon do secretly at a hidden gym in Herat, Afghanistan, when he was 11 years old.
Following the rise of the Taliban in 2021, Khudadadi was barred from competing in the sport she loves. According to CNNshe was unable to leave the country at first and was forced to go into hiding, continuing to train for the Paralympics in secret in her backyard. In a moment of desperation, Khudadadi launched a appeal in video that went viral. Eventually, she managed to get a place on Spain’s evacuation list and was airlifted to safety by the Australian Air Force.
“I was told that if I stayed, the Taliban would come and take me because I was a female athlete disobeying their rules,” she told CNN. “I had only one choice: to leave.”