PARIS — This had nothing to do with 13 seconds or even 15 minutes of fame.
Kimia Yousofi ran the 100-metres at the Olympics on Friday in a pedestrian 13.42 seconds, then spent so much longer than that in the mixed zone, delivering a poignant message of stolen freedom. That’s why she is here.
“I’m not for the result here. I’m here for Afghan girls. I feel responsibility for Afghan girls instead of Afghanistan because they can’t talk, they can’t have interview. They can’t do anything. They have to be silent. Why? No one can decide for others. I’m human. I decide what should I do. Not anyone else.”
She is 28, and free. But she was born in Iran, because her parents fled Kandahar after the brutal, oppressive Taliban regime first took control of Afghanistan decades ago. She finished high school in Iran, joined the national athletics team and competed at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics. The family eventually returned to Afghanistan but it was no longer safe for her or them in 2021, when the terrorists returned. She had already said too much about women’s rights.
So, with the help of the Australian Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee, Yousofi, her mother and a brother were relocated to Sydney in 2022. With that as context, Yousofi was asked why she did not compete here for the Refugee Team, why she would choose to represent a country in which she cannot live safely at this point.
“That’s a good question,” she said. “So many people, they are trying. Like International Olympic Committee. Afghanistan Olympic Committee. They are trying to keep this flag up,” she said, tugging at the flag on her racing outfit. “I’m going to be part of that journey. I’m going to keep my culture. This is my culture. I have a country. They are fighting with us. Secretary General. The head of Afghanistan Olympic Committee. So many people. They are helping me that I’m here. I’m going to represent my culture as much as possible. This is my flag. This is my country. This is my land.”
She is grateful for the platform here and for the safe harbour offered her in Australia. She lives and trains in Sydney, and loves it, and after a post-Olympics rest period, she will seek employment, though she does not know what she wants to do. She knows for sure that she cannot go home.
“I’m a refugee. I was born as a refugee in Iran. When I opened my eyes, I was a refugee. But this is a different time. This is a country. A culture. You know? I’m fighting for a land that the terrorists came and took. You know, you feel someone, if they come to your house, and they say, OK, get out, it’s my house. What do you feel? They took my land. No one in Afghanistan, they recognize there as a government. No one. They can’t talk, I talk for them.”
On the back of her racing bib, she scrawled the words education, sport and our rights. She hopes that sign and her message resonates.
“I’m just saying that I think it’s true. I don’t know if it’s powerful or not. I’m not a politician. I’m not a politics person. I just do what I think is true. I can talk. I can talk with media. I can be voice of Afghan girls instead of Afghanistan.”