Friba Rezayee
فریبا رضایی
BornFriba
(1985-09-03) September 3, 1985 (age 38)
Kabul, Afghanistan
ResidenceKabul, Afghanistan
Nationality Afghanistan
DivisionMiddle Weight
StyleJudo
Fighting out ofAfghanistan
OccupationJudoka
Notable relativesShaima Rezayee
Last updated on: April 23, 2012
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Friba Rezayee (Dari: فریبا رضایی) (born September 3, 1985) is an Afghan 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 life

Rezayee was nine years old when her family moved from Afghanistan to the neighbouring Pakistan, after the Taliban seized control in 1996.[5] Rezayee, along with her family, lived in Pakistan for eight years as a refugee, and studied martial arts and boxing there.[6][7]

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 girls 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.[6] She also has two older brothers, Javed and Fawad.[6]

2004 Athens Olympics

Rezayee 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.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ "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.
  3. ^ "The women of Afghanistan". CBC News Online. cbc.ca. March 1, 2005. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  4. ^ "First female competitors at the Olympics by country". Olympedia. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  5. ^ Lopresti, Mike (August 17, 2004). "Afghan women making Olympic history". USA Today. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ Harwitt, Sandra (November 24, 2011). "Robina Jalali chases dream for Afghan girls". espn.go.com ESPN. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  8. ^ "Olympic results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
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