In a historic moment at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, two Iranian-born athletes, still friends and now representing different nations, have both secured medals in women's taekwondo.
Nahid Kiani, competing for Iran in the 57 kg category, secured the silver medal after defeating South Korea's Kim Yu Jin.
This medal makes Kiani the first female athlete in Iran's history to reach an Olympic final.
Minutes before Kiani's final match, Kimia Alizadeh, formerly of Iran but now representing Bulgaria, secured a bronze medal in the same weight class.
Alizadeh defeated opponents from China and Tunisia to claim her place on the podium.
This marks Alizadeh's second Olympic medal, following her bronze in the Rio Olympics where she competed under the Iranian flag.
Kimia and Nahid were once friends, companions, and "safe girls" for each other.
For over five years, Kiani had been both a training partner and a rival to Alizadeh.
During Alizadeh’s preparations for the 2016 Rio Olympics, Kiani supported her, despite knowing she would not compete in Rio.
She accompanied Kimia to the Chalos camp in the north of Iran, trained with her daily in Tehran and at the Taekwondo House, and was devastated upon hearing the news of Alizadeh's asylum in Germany, reportedly crying for hours.
Kiani was heartbroken because she knew about the departure of Alizadeh, Iran's taekwondo's only female Olympic medalist in the country's history at the time.
In January 2020, amidst the aftermath of government repression and public protests, and shortly after the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane, Alizadeh's decision to seek asylum in Germany made headlines.
No longer wanting to compete or live under the Iranian flag, she published a post on Instagram explaining her departure.
She wrote, "Whatever they said, I wore. I repeated every sentence they ordered... They said my medal was due to the mandatory hijab and attributed it to their own management and tact."
After her defeat by Kimia Alizadeh in Tokyo, Nahid Kiani faced some of the most challenging days of her career.
She wrote afterwards: "Despite my family's opposition to championship sports, I had used the number 2020 in most of my passwords for years to remember that I have to participate in these competitions."
Upon returning to Iran after her elimination, Kiani received no welcome from the managers and sports authorities.
Yet, she persevered and achieved remarkable success, adding multiple titles to her hall of fame: a gold medal at the Islamic Games in 2021, a gold medal at the Asian Games in 2022, a gold medal at the Asian Championship in 2022, and a gold medal at the World Taekwondo Championship in 2023. She now enters the 2024 Paris Olympics with four consecutive championship titles.
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