the Paralympics are underway and yesterday Zakia Khudadadi won the first medal for the Paralympic Refugee Team and you need to hear her story hey I’m Coach Jackie bringing you all your woman sports stories from the Paralympics over these next nine days let’s get into it Zakia is from Afghanistan and she was born without one of her forearms at the age of nine she started practicing and competing in taekwondo at a hidden gym in her hometown in 2016 at just 18 years old she won the African International Parataekwondo Championships in 2020 she was granted a wild card entry to compete in taekwondo at the Paralympics by the time those Paralympics would take place in 2021 the Taliban had risen to power in Afghanistan Zakia was unable to leave Afghanistan forced into hiding and continued to train in her backyard in case something would happen she realized there would be no way for her to get to the Paralympics unless she took matters into her own hands and that’s what she did she made a video a plea to literally the whole world saying please help me I can’t leave and I wanna compete in the Paralympics and the video worked she was placed on Spain’s evacuee list and air lifted out of the country by the Australian Air Force a week later she became the second woman ever to compete for Afghanistan in the Paralympic game she didn’t get the result she wanted at that games but she was safe and she was able to compete which didn’t seem possible a week before since those Games Zakia has been living and training in Paris France getting ready for this 2024 Paralympic Games where just two days ago she carried the torch in the opening ceremony but this time representing a new team the Paralympic refugee team going into the competition it’s important to note that Zakia won gold at the European Championships in 2023 so there’s a really good chance she could medal which would be huge but then she lost in the quarter finals and it seemed like her dream of medaling might be over but then she won the makeup match and when her next opponent withdrew from the bronze medal match Zakia’s medal was officially guaranteed and the amount of pure joy that exuded from her I can’t show you the video but you gotta watch it her coach picks her up at first like this and then she just hoists Zakia over her shoulders and starts running in circles then they were spinning falling to the ground and eventually waving the refugee team’s flag in victory she said she wants to give her medal to the whole world and hopes that one day they’ll be freedom in her country for all the world for all the girls for all the women for all the refugees everybody that they could get liberty and Equality like many of the women in Afghanistan under Taliban rule Zakia had to be hidden for most of her life and hide what she loved to do as a woman who is an athlete and now she’s on display for all the world to see I love women sports and stay tuned for more Paralympic stories