Afghan athletes: between war, Covid and the Olympics

Whenever Fahim Anwari jumps into a swimming pool, he has his dream of the Olympics with him.

His chest is decorated with a tattoo of the five brightly colored, interwoven rings.

The Olympic Rings.

Anwari will be the first swimmer to represent Afghanistan at the Summer Games.

“As athletes in my home country, we have to deal with countless problems every day,” he says.

"But we don't give in to despair and try to continue training with the few resources we have on site."

Alexander Davydov

Sports editor.

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The lack of infrastructure is just one of many grievances, says Anwari. The fragile security situation, which affects the entire population, is currently more serious. For more than four decades, one bloody conflict has followed another in Afghanistan, millions of people have died or had to flee. There is no end in sight. With the withdrawal of international troops, the radical Islamic Taliban are on the advance and threaten to regain control of the country. In addition, the consequences of the corona pandemic are bringing the broken country to its knees. The third wave brings poor medical care to the limit and beyond.

Between war and Covid, the hope of a change for the better is few and far between.

Fahim Anwari tries not to be put off by the grim situation in his homeland.

He focuses on his goal: to be an internationally successful Afghan swimmer.

But the homeland hardly offers any prospects for this: “The government should actually support us better, financially and materially,” says Anwari.

"In order to be able to grow athletically in a safe environment, we ultimately have to leave our home."

Training outside the country

Anwari is currently training in the Russian city of Kazan with the help of a sports promotion program run by the FINA World Swimming Federation.

He received a “wild card” for Tokyo and will compete in the 50 meter freestyle: “I am very proud to represent my country and to be able to take part in a major international competition that I can demonstrate the strength and talent of the Afghan youth can prove, ”he says.

Afghanistan has promising athletes.

But the unstable situation in the country sometimes makes it an insurmountable challenge for them to take part in the Olympic Games.

In 1999 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) excluded Afghanistan from the Sydney Summer Games.

The reasons for the IOC: the ongoing civil war and the oppression of women by the Taliban.

After the terrorist organization was overthrown, Afghanistan was reopened by the IOC in 2002.

Two years later, judoka Friba Razayee and track and field athlete Robina Muqimyar, the first Afghan female athletes competed at the Summer Games in Athens.

The constraints of "rigidly defined, patriarchal gender roles" are still high, wrote Razayee on her private blog.

The resistance against Afghan women athletes is very present.

In 2008 the case of the athlete Mahbooba Ahadgar caused an international sensation.

The 19-year-old fled a training camp in Italy after receiving death threats from extremists.

Part of the Olympic refugee team

Cyclist Masomah Ali Zada ​​and judo fighter Nigara Shaheen also had to leave their homeland.

In Tokyo, the Afghan athletes still have the chance to compete in the Olympics - as part of the international Olympic refugee team.

The corona pandemic is also worsening opportunities for Afghan athletes.

Because of positive test results, two taekwondo fighters missed the qualification for the summer games.

The failure affects athletes in a discipline in which Afghanistan had the greatest successes at the Olympics to date with the two bronze medals from Rohullah Nikpai in 2008 and 2012.

Thousands of fans cheered the fighter as a national hero when he arrived in Kabul.

Via the "wildcard" in the games

And so perhaps the Afghan Olympic Committee's greatest hope rests on Farzad Mansouri. The 19-year-old was able to qualify for the games via a so-called "wildcard" - as the only one of the corona-plagued Afghan taekwondo team.

Swimmer Anwari is also longing for a place on the podium: "I dream of winning a medal and being able to hold up the flag of my homeland," he says. It will remain a dream. Anwari competes in the 50 meter freestyle on the second weekend of the games, his entry time (27.88 seconds) is almost seven seconds above the world record (20.91 seconds). But Anwari does not lose confidence. In the coming days he and the remaining four athletes who make up the Afghan team want to give his tortured homeland a long-awaited glimmer of hope; even if only with participation.