Paris 2024 Olympics: Taekwondo athlete Farzad Mansouri chasing gold with Refugee Olympic Team after fleeing Afghanistan
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Published 20/06/2024 at 10:25 GMT
Farzad Mansouri carried Afghanistan's flag at the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony, but he was forced to flee his home country just a few weeks later after the Taliban re-took control. The taekwondo practitioner was invited to train in Manchester, and he will now represent the Refugee Olympic Team in Paris. He hopes to become the first ever medallist from the refugee team.
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Taekwondo practitioner Farzad Mansouri, who was the flag bearer for Afghanistan at the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony, will compete in Paris for the Refugee Olympic Team after fleeing his home country to escape the Taliban.
The 22-year-old was forced to leave Afghanistan just a few weeks after competing in Tokyo as the Taliban re-took control of the country.
“When I left my country and my house, the only clothing I had was my Olympic kit," he told BBC Sport.
"My only goal was the Olympic Games. I said I will carry on anything I can so I can go to Paris.”
After fleeing Afghanistan, Mansouri learnt that his taekwondo team-mate, Mohammed Jan Sultani, was killed in a suicide bomb attack on Kabul airport.
“I lost my friend, I was really close with him,” Mansouri said. “I was really sad. He was also trying to leave the country. I was thinking, what’s going on?”
Mansouri spent eight months in a refugee camp in the United Arab Emirates, with limited opportunities to train.
He managed to get some pads delivered to camp so he could start training with his brother to maintain his fitness.
“It was not really good training but I was just thinking, 'I have to keep my body and fitness',” he said.
“I cannot improve, but I have to stay the same. In taekwondo, if you've not trained for a long time, it is really hard to come back and start.”
Mansouri was eventually relieved to receive an invitation to train in Manchester at GB Taekwondo’s centre, alongside Olympic medallists Jade Jones, Bianca Cook and Bradly Sinden.
However, it has been far from smooth sailing for Mansouri, who spoke very little English when he moved to the UK in May 2022 and has struggled to get visas to compete.
“I missed a lot of competition in the past, like the European Games, because of my documents, because of [my] refugee status,” he said.
Mansouri says his experiences have only provided more fuel to train for the Olympics.
“When I'm thinking about my situation in the past in Abu Dhabi and at the airport in Kabul, that gives me more motivation to train harder,” Mansouri said.
“I'm trying to get the best result for my country, for the people who are helping me in Great Britain and GB Taekwondo and my coach, my family as well. Especially my family … because they left the country for me.
"And of course, [I want] to get a good result for the Olympic refugee team because they are helping us to compete in the Games.”
The refugee team was first introduced by the IOC in 2016. This year’s team features 36 athletes from 11 countries of origin that will compete in 12 sports. No one representing the team has ever won a medal, but Mansouri is hoping to change that.
“Only gold, only a gold medal,” he said of his goal in Paris.
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