Iran's Only Female Olympic Medalist "Leaving Iran to Escape Oppression"

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin, Iran's only female Olympic medalist and taekwondo athlete, declared on the 12th (local time) through her social network service (SNS) that she would leave Iran.

On that day, Alizadeh posted on her Instagram account, "I do not want to be part of hypocrisy, lies, inequality, and flattery," stating that she would leave Iran. She wrote, "I am one of the millions of women oppressed in Iran." She added, "I wore the clothes as they said and spoke as they instructed. I repeated every sentence they ordered like a parrot."

She continued, "We (female athletes) were not important to them. We were just tools," criticizing, "They forced my medal into the hijab that must be worn and politically exploited it as their own achievement." She lamented, "While using my medal, they simultaneously insulted me by saying, 'Stretching your legs like that is not a woman's virtue.'"

Alizadeh also explained, "No one from Europe invited me, nor did I receive any tempting offers," adding, "But I decided to endure the pain of homesickness, which is harder than an Olympic gold medal, because I do not want to be part of hypocrisy, lies, inequality, and flattery."

Regarding this, Iran's ISNA news agency recently reported that she left for the Netherlands earlier this month for training and did not return. Alizadeh did not provide any further explanation about this.

Alizadeh won a bronze medal in the women's 57kg taekwondo category at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Since Iran's participation in the Olympics began in 1948, she is the first female athlete from Iran to win a medal. She was also one of the 'BBC 100 Women of the Year' selected by the UK BBC in December last year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.