Politics dominates female Iranian athletes’ presence in Paris Olympics

Politics overshadowed the performance of female Iranian athletes at the Paris Olympics, where current world taekwondo champion Nahid Kiyani won a silver medal after defeating her former teammate and defector, Kimia Alizadeh.

Kiyani and Alizadeh, who secured bronze for her new country, Bulgaria, shared a long, warm embrace and posed for photos after receiving their medals. Kiyani was also seen kissing her former roommate and friend on the shoulder.

However, this emotional moment was omitted from Iran's state television coverage. The state-run sports commentator referred to Alizadeh only as "she" or "the rival" and described the match as "a historic revenge."

A video of the two old friends embracing, which moved many Iranian fans to tears, has since gone viral on social media.

Many Iranian social media users have condemned the “oppressive” policies of the Islamic Republic that forced Alizadeh and two dozen other athletes sports people leave their homeland and their teams behind to live in exile in recent years. Most female athletes who defect to other countries, including Alizadeh, speak against the Islamic Government's oppression.

Another emotional scene was created in Paris Thursday when Sabah Shariati, an Iranian wrestler who competed for Azerbaijan’s team, lost against Iran's bronze medalist Amin Mirzadeh. Mirzadeh lifted him on his shoulders as a sign of respect when he found out this was Shariati’s last match.

Supporters of the state laud Kiyani for not “turning her back on the motherland” and call Alizadeh a “traitor”.

Kiyani who remained in Iran, as her Instagram posts show, is not a conformist, either. She supported the Woman, Life, Freedom movement of 2022-23 and campaigned against capital punishment on social media. “My silence doesn’t mean I’m happy,” one of her Instagram stories read.

If not for the prospects of a medal, and consenting to wear the hijab, she would not have been allowed to compete in Paris or any other international competitions. She may even face repercussions for embracing her friend instead of turning her back on the “traitor’ in Paris Olympics.

Some others have urged authorities to allow her to return home and join her teammates.

“Iran is the home of all Iranians. I wish Kimia could return to Iran and to be a winner again,” former minister of communication Mohammad-Javad Azari-Jahromi, a close ally of the reform-oriented President Masoud Pezeshkian, posted on X Thursday.

Alizadeh was given a hero’s welcome by Iranian officials in 2016 for winning an Olympic bronze. She was showered with gifts and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei lauded her for her victory which he said proved that hijab is no impediment to women’s success.

In 2020, however, Alizadeh defected to Germany to avoid competing for the Iranian Olympics team in protest to oppression of Iranian women and discarded her veil. She competed as a member of the refugee team in Tokyo Olympics where she and Kiyani had to face each other. Alizadeh won 3-0 but both were eventually eliminated.

“I’m one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran who they played in whatever manner they wished,” she said after her defection about being used for propaganda by the authorities when she was a member of the Iranian team such as obliging her to dedicate her 2016 medal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and saying that wearing the hijab was created no obstacles to female athletes.

In the aftermath of the Woman, Life, Freedom protests, Alizadeh supported the leadership of Iran's exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi.

Iran's Supreme Leader has imposed a ban on Iranian athletes competing with Israelis. The ban forces athletes to forfeit matches or claim injury to avoid facing Israelis even at the cost of losing medals.