The Afghan women athletes defying Taliban to compete in Paris Olympics: ‘Do not forget us’

Two sisters and Afghanistan’s flagbearer at the last Olympics say they aren’t competing just for themselves but also for many women who are banned by the Taliban regime from playing sports. Arpan Rai reports

Fariba Hashimi of Afghanistan celebrates after winning the 2022 Women’s Road Championships of Afghanistan in Aigle, Switzerland (Getty)

When she steps out onto the cycling track at the Paris Olympics on 27 July, Yulduz Hashimi won’t just be fulfilling a childhood dream. She will also be carrying a flag for all women in Afghanistan who are denied the same sporting opportunities that have taken her to the Olympics.

Hashimi, 24, is one of three Afghan women athletes competing in the 2024 Games. The others are her younger sister Fariba Hashimi, 21, also a cyclist, and Kimia Yousofi, a sprinter who was Afghanistan’s flagbearer at the previous Olympics in Tokyo.

“From the first day of my cycling career, I dreamt that one day I would represent my country in the Olympics, and my dream has now come true. I am so happy now and excited that I am finally participating in the Games,” she tells The Independent.

They aren’t representing their homeland in the traditional sense, because the de facto Taliban government there doesn’t recognise them. Indeed, the Islamist regime doesn’t allow women to play sports at all publicly, or attend school. “Currently in Afghanistan, women’s sports have been stopped. When women’s sports aren’t practised, how can they go on the national team?” Atal Mashwani, a spokesperson for the Taliban’s sports directorate, said earlier this month.

Instead, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been working with Afghanistan’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) in exile to make sure the country is represented by a team with gender parity, saying this sends an important message to the world. No Taliban officials are being permitted to attend the Games in Paris this summer.

The Taliban do nonetheless recognise the three Afghan male athletes who have made it to Paris as representing the country even though only one of them, judo fighter Mohammad Samim Faizad, has actually trained for the Games within Afghanistan. The other two, like the female athletes, live abroad.

The Hashimi sisters and Yousafi, a track and field athlete, will compete under the black, red and green flag of the previous Western-backed administration that was toppled by the Taliban in August 2021. When it came to power, the Taliban said it was changing the country’s flag to a simple white background with a declaration of faith in Islam, written in black.

The Hashimi sisters come from Faryab province, where they still have family, but now live in Italy.

They made it to the Olympics via the Asian Championship of Afghanistan in Aigle, Switzerland, in 2022 where Fariba finished first and Yulduz second in the cycling race, completing it five minutes faster than the athlete in third place.

Yulduz Hashimi, Fariba Hashimi and Zahra Rezayee pose on the podium of the 2022 women’s road cycling competition at the Asia Championship of Afghanistan in Aigle, Switzerland (Getty)

Yousofi is competing in the women’s 100-metre sprint.

“I represent the stolen dreams and aspirations of these women. Those who don’t have the authority to make decisions as free human beings, they don’t even have the permission to enter a park,” she said.

Kimia Yousofi is one of three Afghan female athletes competing at the 2024 Olympics in Paris (Getty)

“They are extraordinary talents, just look at their speed and talent of cycling at a record speed. It forced the IOC to take notice and include them in the games,” said Dr Mohammad Yonus Popalzay, secretary general of Afghanistan’s National Olympic Committee, a holdover from the previous regime that mainly operates outside the country.

“To compete in the Olympics, your skill level should be extremely high and these women are beyond that,” he told The Independent. “Super-highly talented.”

As the Games draw near, Yulduz Hashimi is training harder than ever. She practises for four hours a day, following a strict diet regimen and making sure to get enough sleep. All because she feels the burden of carrying the dreams of many women back in her homeland.

“There is no difficult part of representing my country Afghanistan. I feel proud and I am ready to face all the difficulties that come from this,” she says.

“To represent 20 million deprived women of my country is the most important part of my participation as I am giving a message to the world: do not forget us.”

Fariba Hashimi celebrates after winning the 2022 women’s road cycling competition at the Asia Championship of Afghanistan in Aigle, Switzerland (Getty)

The sisters left on one of the last flights out of Afghanistan after the Taliban forced the withdrawal of the Western forces. The flight was arranged by the Italian government.

“I was in Kabul until 24 August 2022 and my family still lives in Afghanistan,” Yulduz Hashimi says, adding that she never imagined she would be a refugee one day.

“I really miss my birthplace and wish to return one day.”

That may not be easy under Kabul’s current regime, given the sisters have denounced the Taliban and their white flag. “I represent Afghanistan and not the Taliban. I’m proudly representing 20 million women of my country. My fellow women back home should have access to everything like any other woman because we deserve better treatment,” she says.

“I wish them all the best and pray they have all the freedom like every woman deserves.”