Friba Rezayee (Dari: فریبا رضایی), (born September 3, 1985) is a Hazara judoka, who is perhaps best known as one of the first two women athletes from Afghanistan to compete in the Summer Olympics. The Taliban controlling most of Afghanistan had caused the country to be banned from the Olympics in 1999 due to discrimination against women under Taliban rule as well as its prohibition of sports of any kind, and thus missed out on the Sydney Olympics of the year 2000.[1] In June 2003, the IOC lifted the suspension imposed on Afghanistan during the 115th IOC Session in Prague, and the country sent a delegation of five competitors to the Athens Games in 2004.[2] Rezayee and Robina Muqimyar were two women contingents in the delegation, becoming the first ever women to compete for Afghanistan at the Olympics.[3][4]
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Friba |
| Nationality | Afghanistan |
| Born | September 3, 1985 Kabul, Afghanistan |
| Occupation | Judoka |
| Relative | Shaima Rezayee |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Judo |
| Weight class | Middle Weight |
| Profile at external databases | |
| JudoInside.com | 33817 |
| Updated on April 23, 2012 | |
Personal life
editRezayee was born to an ethnically Hazara family.[5] Her family moved from Afghanistan to the neighboring Pakistan when she was nine years old after the Taliban seized control in 1996.[6] Rezayee, along with her family, lived in Pakistan for eight years as a refugee, and studied martial arts and boxing there.[7][8]
After her return with her family to Afghanistan in 2002, she moved in boxing and was the first Afghan female boxer. But due to lack of other female boxers in her team, she then moved into judo, and began training for the Olympic Games at a girl's judo club sponsored by Danish Refugee Council. Friba is the younger sister of Shaima Rezayee, a music TV presenter who was killed in 2005 in her hometown Kabul.[7] She also has two older brothers, Javed and Fawad.[7]
In 2011, Rezayee moved to Vancouver, Canada, as a refugee.[9] She studied political science at the University of British Columbia.[10] In a 2024 interview, she recalled, “When I first came to Canada, I got a bicycle and went to Stanley Park and rode very fast and I said, ‘Who says heaven doesn’t exist?’ I just wanted to have my freedom and be able to breathe and live. I'm very grateful to be in Canada. I don’t take any second of my life here for granted."[10]
2004 Athens Olympics
editRezayee represented Afghanistan in the middleweight class (70 kg) event of judo in the 2004 Summer Olympics, Athens. The whole competition took place on August 18. In her first-round match, Rezayee faced Spaniard Cecilia Blanco and lost the bout without earning a single point.[11]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Hennessy-Fiske, Molly (April 28, 2011). "Kabul's scarved boxers – Female Olympic hopefuls train at a stadium where the Taliban used to publicly execute women". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
- ^ "Afghanistan back in Olympics – Olympic bosses have cleared the way for Afghanistan to compete at the Games in Athens next year". BBC News. June 29, 2003. Retrieved January 6, 2012.
- ^ "The women of Afghanistan". CBC News Online. cbc.ca. March 1, 2005. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
- ^ "First female competitors at the Olympics by country". Olympedia. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
- ^ "Friba Rezayee". interview-her.com. Retrieved 2024-06-19.
- ^ Lopresti, Mike (August 17, 2004). "Afghan women making Olympic history". USA Today. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
- ^ a b c "International Education Week – Afghan refugees turn to USEFP in pursuit of their dream of higher education" (PDF). usefpakistan.org The United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 16, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
- ^ Harwitt, Sandra (November 24, 2011). "Robina Jalali chases dream for Afghan girls". espn.go.com ESPN. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
- ^ Church, Ben (December 23, 2021). "Afghan sportswomen 'terrified' and fearing for their lives, says country's first female Olympian". cnn.com.
- ^ a b Evans, Lisa (February 14, 2024). "Afghan judoka Friba Rezayee is fighting for her dreams". canadianimmigrant.ca.
- ^ "Olympic results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
External links
edit- Fariba Rezayee at JudoInside.com
- Fariba Rezayee at Olympics.com
- Fariba Rezayee at Olympedia
