Olympic sprinter Kima Yousofi, Afghanistan's flag carrier at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, is the latest athlete to have managed to leave Afghan soil after Australia decided to host her. The news has been confirmed just one year after the Taliban imposed, again, the terror regime in the country and reduced, practically to nothing, the rights of women.
The world of sports was not exempt from the harsh restrictions, which caused many female voices to seek asylum in other places to secure their lives and, on the other hand, to try to continue developing their careers.
"In essence, I am starting a new life here. I am going to train very hard and it would be very exciting to go to Paris, I am definitely going to compete," Yousufi said in a statement released by the Australian Olympic Committee (COA). The sprinter was transferred along with 30 other people, including her mother and one of her three brothers.
Sports are for men and education, starting in sixth grade, too. In addition, the Taliban force women to wear the burqa, urge them to stay at home and impose obstacles that make it difficult for them to access work. Since 2021, those who defend the rights of women have been persecuted, even paying with their lives to raise their voices for them.
Such is the fear that is breathed, that last year it was the former captain of the Afghan soccer team, Khalida Popal, who advised the players who are still in the country to "delete photos of their social networks" and to "burn" their own equipment of the national team for security.
And for safety, and as refugees due to the "significant risk" they run as a result of supporting "the participation of women in sports and education", as detailed in the COA, Australia decided to welcome this group of 31 people in within the framework of a "safe exit" operation from Afghanistan that began in June and ended last week.
Australia has a strong commitment to Afghan sportswomen and their families. Since the Taliban seized power last year, the country has sheltered more than a hundred people in need of help.
The COA indicated that in addition to Yousufi, who also participated in the Rio Games and carried his country's flag at that event, Australian authorities have also taken in Asian Games taekwondo medalist Ahmad Abasy, as well as two related families. to Olympic volleyball.
"We have Olympians in the group, as well as sports administrators who especially championed women's sport through recruitment, training and officiating programs," COA executive director Matt Carroll said in a statement from the Olympic body.
