Episode 25: Sports & Rights Season – Why the First Female Afghan Olympian Wants the Olympics to Ban Her Country

When we first kicked off our Sports & Rights podcast season, we were in the midst of what is arguably the biggest and most beloved sporting event on the planet – the 2022 FIFA World Cup, held in Qatar. Now, we find ourselves just weeks away from the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics – the perfect time to restart our examination of the intersection of human rights and sports!

In the coming episodes, we will circle back to some of the ideas we raised in our first episode of the season. We’ll talk about sportswashing, athlete activism, the role of sports organizations in upholding and strengthening human rights. But first, we’re going to bring you something a little different and very timely: the story and struggle of a woman named Friba Rezayee.

Just last month, the Lantos Foundation had the privilege of meeting Friba at the Oslo Freedom Forum. Friba has the distinction of being Afghanistan’s first female Olympic athlete, having represented her country in the sport of judo at the 2004 Athens Olympics, just a few short years after the U.S. and its allies toppled the brutal and repressive Taliban regime. Now that the Taliban has regained power, girls and women are once again forbidden from participating in sports. 

The International Olympic Committee has agreed to allow a mixed-gender team from Afghanistan compete in Paris – part of its push for the first ever “gender parity Olympics.” But Friba says this move only legitimizes the Taliban regime and uses Afghan female athletes in exile as window dressing for the Games. 

Friba has started a petition calling on the IOC to ban Afghanistan from the 2024 Games. Sign it here.

Learn more about her organization: Women Leaders of Tomorrow

Read more:

Afghanistan’s First Female Olympian Calls for Games Ban, Reuters, March 21, 2024

Women Afghan athletes differ on whether Olympic ban will help their cause, CBC, April 15, 2024

The Taliban and the Global Backlash Against Women’s Rights, Human Rights Watch, February 6, 2024

Opinion | The Olympics Should Stand With Afghanistan’s Women Athletes - The New York Times (nytimes.com), July 17, 2024

Watch:

Sports & Politics | The Struggle for Freedom, Explained (via Human Rights Foundation)

 
Producers: Chelsea Hedquist, Brittany Smith

Audio editor: Brittany Smith

Music: Riorr by Audiorezout