Zakia Khudadadi, a para-taekwondo athlete from Afghanistan, announced on Thursday that she had won a bronze medal at the Brazil Para Taekwondo Open, adding another accolade to her trailblazing international career.
“This medal is not just for me,” she wrote in a social media post, “but for all Afghan women who, despite all hardships, are still standing.”
Khudadadi, who has emerged as one of Afghanistan’s most prominent female athletes in exile, said she would never surrender in the face of adversity. “We may face obstacles, but we never give up. We rise, always,” she wrote.
Her performance in Brazil follows a series of milestones. In 2024, she was named one of the BBC’s 100 most inspiring and influential women. She also made history as the first member of the Refugee Paralympic Team to earn a medal at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
Khudadadi had been scheduled to compete in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games but was barred from leaving the country following the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021. She later left Afghanistan with the assistance of the International Paralympic Committee and the French government, becoming the first Afghan female athlete to compete internationally under Taliban rule.
Earlier this year, the international nonprofit Women Forward recognized her as one of its “Inspiring Women of 2024.”
Khudadadi’s achievements have made her a powerful symbol of resilience, particularly for Afghan women and girls now living under severe restrictions imposed by the Taliban, who have barred most women from public life, sports and education.
