Athlete Qualified for Paris 2024 Paralympics Recounts Escape from Afghanistan

Six athletes from different countries, competing in various disciplines, but with the same goal: to qualify for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games. Alexis, Oksana, Cédric, Anne-Sophie, Zakia and Gabriel are all driven by a determination that commands admiration. The documentary Body and souldirected by Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai and broadcast on August 20 at 9:10 p.m. on France 2, slips into the intimacy of these competitors, during their training and various championships, but especially at the heart of their daily lives and their difficulties. A choral film that also questions the place of people with disabilities in our societies, and the discrimination of which they are victims.

For the third time since their creation, the Paralympic Games will include a team of refugees this year. Eight athletes who fled war, dictatorship or discrimination that put their lives at risk, like Afghan taekwondo athlete Zakia Khudadadi. While she was preparing for the Tokyo Olympics in August 2021, the Afghan capital fell to the Taliban, who have taken back power in Afghanistan.The day the Taliban entered Kabul, The coach came to me immediately and said, ‘Zakia, it’s all over for you'”says the 25-year-old woman, who has suffered from a malformation of her left forearm since birth.

In addition to her disability, the fact of being a woman and belonging to the Hazara Shiite community, persecuted for decades by the Taliban as France Culture points out, exposes her to a risk of violence in Afghanistan.They will surely kill you if they find. (…) From today, I don’t know you, you don’t know me”his coach told him. Zakia Khudadadi is forced to leave the Afghan Taekwondo Federation.

Desperate, she decides to send a video to the Afghan Paralympic Committee. Luckily, her message is seen in Paris by the Franco-Iranian Fahimeh Robiolle, a conflict management trainer and vice-president of the France-Afghanistan club, who undertakes to help her leave her country. “I discover (…) an angel’s face, very young, magnificent, she asks for help. (…) II said to myself, ‘But we’re not going to leave her like this!'” explains Fahimeh Robiolle.

Zakia Khudadadi managed to reach France and was welcomed at the National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (Insep), the French sports center of excellence. She narrowly managed to participate in the Tokyo Paralympic Games, under the Afghan banner, but was eliminated in the first round of the competition. While various nations offered her asylum, the taekwondo athlete decided to return to the country that saved her life: France.

She is then working hard to qualify for Paris 2024. “ZAkia, she is an example, even for us, of resilience. We would like all fighters to have this flame that Zakia has.”assures Haby Niaré, her coach. At the end of a final fight that started badly, the Afghan managed to qualify for the Paralympic Games, in the under 49 kg category. But her dream of competing under the French colours did not come true: not having obtained French nationality in time, Zakia Khudadadi will be part of the refugee team at Paris 2024, from August 28 to September 8.

The documentary Body and soul, directed by Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai, is broadcast on August 20 at 9:10 p.m. on France 2 and on the france.tv platform.