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Friba Rezayee was solely 18 when she made historical past by turning into Afghanistan’s first feminine Olympian. This was on the 2004 Olympic Video games in Athens, three years after the autumn of the Taliban – a regime that had banned girls from collaborating in sports activities. This was not solely a particular second for Rezayee, however a momentous event for ladies throughout Afghanistan.

Born in Kabul, Rezayee was conscious at a younger age that females and males had been handled otherwise. “Afghanistan is a really conventional Islamic nation the place boys are raised to be the breadwinner of the household and women are raised to marry at a younger age, grow to be homemakers and have youngsters,” she says.

Considered one of seven youngsters, Rezayee says she began her activism from age 5. Even then, she believed that each human being had equal rights.

“On the celebration of Eid, it’s an Afghan custom that folks purchase new garments for his or her youngsters,” she says. “My mom made a joke saying she didn’t get any garments for me, and my brother stated ‘yeah, you didn’t get any garments since you’re a lady.’ Though it was a joke, I took it very critically. I didn’t perceive why there was a distinction between me and my brother.”

When the Taliban took energy in 1994, Rezayee’s household fled to Pakistan. Whereas there, she remembers being impressed watching American boxer Laila Ali’s match on TV. She was in awe of the energy and energy of the feminine champion boxer. Rezayee’s household returned residence when the US invaded Afghanistan and overthrew the Taliban in 2001.

“We believed there was going to be freedom and a traditional life,” she says.

Rezayee went looking for a spot the place she might study to field like Laila Ali. She didn’t discover any boxing services, however on the age of 15, she found judo. “I wasn’t allowed to go, however I went there in any case. I confirmed up at each coaching. I used to be fearless,” she says.

Rezayee confronted heavy criticism, even from members of her circle of relatives, for her curiosity in judo. However the help of Stig Traavik, a Norwegian Olympian and diplomat, made all of the distinction. Traavik was working as an adviser to the Afghan Authorities to raise sanctions to permit the nation’s participation within the Olympic Video games. Afghanistan had beforehand been banned from participation by the Worldwide Olympic Committee because of the Taliban’s atrocities. Traavik was additionally a champion for ladies’s participation in sports activities in Afghanistan and supported Rezayee’s participation in judo. “As a result of he supported the judo centre and he had respect from the group, my coaches and the male members of the judo crew allowed me to coach,” says Rezayee.

On the age of 18, Rezayee went to the 2004 Olympic Video games in Athens.

“5 athletes had been chosen – two women and three boys. However as a result of my competitors was first, I grew to become the primary girl to signify Afghanistan on the Olympics,” she says.

Rezayee’s father bought a satellite tv for pc dish to observe her competitors. “My mom was proud. My siblings had been proud. A number of of my cousinswere not proud,” she says. “I’m a Muslim Afghan girl and I competed with out masking my head with a hijab.”

Rezayee shocked the nation by reducing her hair quick and dying it crimson. “The media went loopy in Afghanistan,” she laughs. Rezayee didn’t make it to the subsequent spherical and referred to as her father in tears. “I stated, ‘I’m so sorry I allow you to down.’ And he stated, ‘Don’t fear about going to the subsequent spherical. You went to the Olympics as the primary girl. That’s like taking step one on the moon.’”

Whereas many had been impressed by her participation within the Olympic Video games, others within the nation had been appalled. Rezayee and her household acquired threats from fundamentalists, and she or he went into hiding upon her return.

“I did my greatest to dwell in Afghanistan, nevertheless it was turning into very harmful for me,” she says.

Rezayee landed in Vancouver as a refugee in 2011. “The explanation I got here to Canada was as a result of I wished to have freedom. Freedom to check no matter I wished, freedom to advocate for different Afghan girls, for gender equality. I wished to dwell someplace the place human rights and girls rights had been revered,” she says.

Rezayee remembers these first days. “Once I first got here to Canada, I bought a bicycle and went to Stanley Park and rode very quick and I stated, ‘Who says heaven doesn’t exist?’ I simply wished to have my freedom and be capable of breathe and dwell,” she says. “I’m very grateful to be in Canada. I don’t take any second of my life right here without any consideration.”

Rezayee adopted her goals and studied political science on the College of British Columbia, the primary girl in her household to have a college diploma. Though she has retired from worldwide competitors, Rezayee is concerned within the sports activities group, educating judo to girls and youngsters in Vancouver. She has not too long ago accomplished an expert teaching coaching certificates in judo, turning into the primary Afghan girl to have one.

In 2021, the yr the Taliban regained energy in Afghanistan, Rezayee based Girls Leaders of Tomorrow, a non-profit group that advocates for ladies’s rights and training in Afghanistan. The group assists younger Afghan girls with worldwide post-secondary purposes and runs a undertaking, Women of Afghanistan Lead (GOAL), to supply alternatives for younger Afghan girls to achieve confidence and empowerment by coaching in martial arts.

Not too long ago, the crew helped a younger lady who was arrested for going to the health club in Afghanistan to get a scholarship in Ontario. “What I hope for Afghan girls is to have freedom and be capable of obtain no matter they need to obtain,” she says.

The submit Afghan judoka Friba Rezayee is combating for her goals first appeared on Canadian Immigrant.

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