In January 2020, Kimia Alizadeh fled her home country, saying she felt she was just one of the “millions of oppressed women in Iran”.
Eighteen months later, the 23-year-old stunned Britain’s two-time Olympic taekwondo champion Jade Jones in Tokyo and came agonisingly close to becoming the first athlete from the International Olympic Committee’s refugee team to win a medal.
She is no stranger to Olympic success, having won bronze at Rio 2016 – Iran’s first ever medal for a woman – but it was the scrutiny that followed that led her to leave the country.
Upon returning to Iran after the Games, she said authorities treated her like a “tool” and that she would rather risk being homeless than stay in Iran any longer.
“I was not important to them. None of us are important to them,” she said.
She travelled to Germany where she was granted asylum, but Iranian government officials quickly denounced her decision. She received threats via social media.
“It was really hard,” she told the Olympic channel. “You change your country, you change your language. Everything changes, and it’s a lot of pressure on your mind. But I think taekwondo helped me in that hard year. When I am training I don’t think about anything”.