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As an Afghan woman athlete, I’m proud to see us at the Olympics despite the Taliban

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As an Afghan woman athlete, I’m proud to see us at the Olympics despite the Taliban

Afghans competing in the Paris Olympics are the clearest sign the Taliban have not succeeded in crushing women’s sport nor women’s spirits.

Samira Asghari
 |  Opinion contributor

I began playing basketball at my school in Kabul, Afghanistan, at age 14. Because of the Taliban, I have been a refugee twice. First in Iran as a child, and now a second time, I am outside my country. When my family returned to Afghanistan in 2003, I was in the first generation of girls able to return to school and play many sports.

But basketball for girls – and indeed all sports – was not widely accepted in Afghan society, and as female athletes, we were frequently threatened by extremists. It was a radical act for me as a girl to hold a basketball or to wear athletic clothes. So, I would wear my Converse All-Star shoes off the court – in public – to make the point that I and all women and girls had the right to play sports.

Before the Taliban returned to power in 2021, the number of female athletes was growing in Afghanistan. In order to even get to the playing fields and tournaments that other athletes worldwide take for granted, we women had to become human rights advocates, educators and community leaders. Sports became our vehicle for promoting our own rights, including the rights to health and education. Ultimately, millions of Afghan women and girls were able to play sports in school, ride bikes and dream of sports scholarships, competing for our country and even opening gyms or building businesses around sports.

Today, Afghan women and girls have been forced off the courts, away from tracks and out of gyms by the Taliban, who took over the government of my country for a second time in August 2021. In the weeks after Kabul was captured, the Taliban overturned 20 years of progress in women’s rights. Girls were no longer allowed to attend school after the sixth grade, women could not work and female athletes had to burn their jerseys, bury their medals, hide sports equipment or flee the country.

Where are all the women? Our eyes don’t deceive us. The men are fleeing Afghanistan.

Paris Olympics give visibility, hope to Afghan women athletes

Yet, when the Paris Olympics open this week, three Afghan women athletes will be visibly leading in the parade of nations on the River Seine, along with three Afghan male athletes. The women Olympians had to leave Afghanistan to represent Afghanistan at the Paris Games.

Following the Taliban takeover, thousands of male and female Afghan athletes sought refuge abroad where they could continue training and competing. This includes past Olympians and Paralympians, national athletes in dozens of sports and members of the Afghan women’s national soccer, basketball and cricket teams.

Who made the cut for Paris Olympics: USA basketball Olympic women’s team roster

This month, the Taliban government announced that it does not recognize the three women athletes – and that only men can represent Afghanistan at the Olympics. The world will see otherwise. So even as the Taliban are minimizing and restricting all women’s rights, in Paris, women Olympians will proudly represent our country to an audience of billions on the world stage.

As a former women’s national basketball team player, I am proud of all the athletes from my country, and that I can represent them as a female International Olympic Committee member.

The Olympic Charter outlines the principles that guide the work of the IOC, including opposing gender-based discrimination. This is why the IOC recognizes and supports the Afghan women Olympians, even though the Taliban government does not.

Afghan sprinter Kimia Yousofi will compete in her third Olympics in Paris. Kimia says she represents “the stolen dreams and aspirations” of women and girls in Afghanistan ‒ “those who don’t have the authority to make decisions as free human beings.”

Afghan women athletes at the Olympics show progress, but there is still work to be done

Kimia and other Afghans competing in Paris are the clearest sign the Taliban have not succeeded in crushing women’s sports nor women’s spirits.

The Taliban crave international recognition. No country or United Nations body has accepted their legitimacy to govern, chiefly because of their ongoing discrimination against women.

The IOC has rightly barred Taliban officials from attending these Paris Games, which are the most gender-equal ever.

But this is not the endgame for Afghan women and girls. There is still an urgent need for governments, the U.N. and other key players to apply pressure to restore Afghan women’s basic human rights.

As we cheer all athletes at the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, we should not forget the 20 million Afghan women and girls who are denied their basic rights to access education, work, health – and sports.

Samira Asghari is a former Afghan women’s national basketball team captain who later worked for the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee. She was elected to be a member of the International Olympic Committee in 2018 at the age of 24, becoming the first IOC representative from Afghanistan, and one of the youngest-ever members.

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