Zakia Khudadadi, a refugee athlete competing in the women’s 47kg taekwondo at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, has made history by securing the first medal ever for the Refugee Paralympic Team. This achievement marks a significant milestone since the team’s formation at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.
Khudadadi’s journey is particularly inspiring. After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, she was forced to flee her home in Kabul. According to CNN, she had to halt her training for the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics to hide from the Taliban. After finally being able to leave the country, she competed in Tokyo as an Afghan representative. Today, while she calls Paris her home, Khudadadi continues to compete as a refugee athlete, determined to demonstrate the strength of Afghan women.
In a CNN interview, Khudadadi expressed the significance of her Paralympic participation: “This is a chance to inspire people… It will be an opportunity to show women and girls that they are capable of more than the Taliban wants them to believe, and that Afghan women are strong and can achieve great things.”
Prior to the competition, she shared her powerful perspective on her participation: “This [Paralympic participation] means more than words can express to me. I am fighting for something bigger than myself. I am fighting for Afghan women, and I am here to show that we are strong and will not be silenced even in the face of war.”
Just a week before Khudadadi’s historic medal win at the Paralympics, the Taliban issued a nationwide ban on women’s public speech, according to the Associated Press. The decree mandates that women cover themselves from head to toe and forbids them from speaking, reading, or singing in public. Human Rights Watch has declared the situation a “global women’s rights crisis,” emphasizing that Afghan women have faced systemic violations of their rights, including restricted access to education and a ban on university enrollment.
The Paris 2024 Olympics witnessed another impactful demonstration of the plight of Afghan women. Manija Tarash, a refugee breakdancer representing the Refugee Olympic Team, was disqualified for wearing a cape made from a burqa (a traditional garment worn by women in Afghanistan to cover their entire body) with the inscription “Free Afghan Women.” While political statements by athletes are prohibited at the Olympics, Tarash maintains that her cape was a statement about “basic human rights.”
In a statement, she explained the symbolism behind her attire: “This burqa represents so much. I want to show the girls back home that even in the most difficult circumstances, they have the power to change things… You can make wings out of a burqa. Even if you are inside a cocoon, you can still fly.”
Khudadadi’s participation in the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics made her the first female athlete from Afghanistan to compete in an international competition under the Taliban regime. Her participation was made possible after a video she created went viral, where she appealed for support: “I appeal to all women in the world, to all women’s protection organizations and to all governments to ensure that Afghan women citizens are not deprived of their right to participate in the Paralympics. I want my fight to be not in vain.”
With her historic medal at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, Khudadadi’s efforts and her fight for a brighter future have taken on an even greater significance and impact.
