First Afghan woman Paralympian goes for gold in Paris

Zakia Khudadadi has spent most of her life breaking through glass ceilings.

The taekwondo Paralympian made history in 2021 in Tokyo, becoming the first Afghan woman to compete in an international sporting event since the Taliban took over her country in August the same year.

Originally blocked from competing following the rise of the Taliban, she was later evacuated from Afghanistan and allowed to compete for her country following a plea from the international community.

In the Paris 2024 Paralympics, Khudadadi said she is competing in the name of women of her country that have gradually been stripped of basic human rights over the past three years.

Competing for the Refugee Team, she began taekwondo at the age of 11, training in secret at a gym in her city of Herat because there were simply no other opportunities for women to safely practice sports.

Despite a closed culture around her, Khudadadi said her family was open and would push her to be active, something that would help raise her to greatness.

Compounding that in Afghanistan, she said, was also her disability.

Despite having "one of the largest populations per capita of persons with disabilities in the world" due to ongoing conflict, people with disabilities are often shunned and blocked from society, according to Human Rights Watch. Women are often disproportionately affected.

Born without one forearm, Khudadadi said she spent her entire life hiding her arm. It was only when she started competing that it began to change.

As she won medals, she said she felt that stigma began to melt away, taekwondo once again become her path to freedom, gaining notoriety when she began competing professionally in 2016.

That all changed five years later when the Taliban made a dramatic ascent to power following the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan. While preparing for Tokyo, Khudadadi was trapped in the country's capital, Kabul.

The International Paralympic Committee originally issued to statement saying the Afghan Paralympic wouldn't participate in the games "due to the serious ongoing situation in the country."

But in a bid to compete in the Games, Khudadadi released a video pleading to the international community for help.

She was evacuated to Tokyo, leaving behind her family.

By doing so, she became the first Afghan female Paralympian in nearly two decades. In 2023, she won gold at the the European Para Championships.

Para taekwondo made its Paralympic debut at the Tokyo Games in 2021, becoming the second contact sport on the Paralympic programme 33 years after judo was added.

"When I combat..." said Khudadadi. "I show all the strength of the girls and women in my country."