She is the Iranian sprinter who broke the stereotype by becoming the first woman to compete at Olympics in 57 years. She is Farzaneh Fasihi. Although, facing criticism and impediments from her country, Fasihi ran like “jaguar” on national and international tracks.
Fasihi was devoid of any support from Ministry of Sports, the Iranian sporting federation and Iran’s National Olympic Committee. But the ambitious and determined lady continued her passion, wearing hijab, as Iranian mandate says.
Let’s look into the early years of Fasihi’s life and her career journey
Farzaneh Fasihi’s Life in Iran
Farzaneh Fasihi was born on 03 January 1993 at Isfahan in the city of Iran. During her school days she knew she is a sportsperson. She started out in gymnastics and joined Iran’s national youth team. It was her PE teacher who first recognized Fasihi’s capability as a runner. She began her journey as a professional runner and the girl broke the record of Isfahan province.
In 2015, she became a member of the Iranian national team. And young Fasihi won many medals: a silver medal in the team section of the 4x400m Asian medley at the national championships, a bronze for the 60m Asian championship, and she qualified for the World Athletics Championships.
Despite her achievements, Iran government refused to support her. A big disappointment was, even after clinching two medals in Asian competition, she was not invited to the qualifier competitions of the Jakarta Asian Games.
Though her ways were blocked, she trained, she ran, and crossed the line. The exemplary woman will be remembered for her achievements in the Iranian history.
Farzaneh Fazihi Achievements
In 2016, Fazihi made her international debut. Fasihi’s team won the silver medal in the 4×400 metre relay at the Asia Indoor Athletics Championship in Doha, Qatar. But despite her standout performance, her light diminished. She left any little support from Iranian sports federation and focused on personal training.
Marrying one of her coaches, Amir Hosseini lifted her career to new heights. Now that she had abiding support by her side, she was unstoppable.
In 2020, she participated in the World Athletics Indoor Championships. Her record time of 7.29 seconds in the 60-metre sprint held in Belgrade, Serbia gave her a nickname, “Jaguar”.
A year later, in 2021, she signed with the Serbian athletics club BAK. In Iran track and field history, she became the first female legionnaire. It is a club signs and sponsors a foreign athlete to relocate and compete for them.
And in 2023, she set the records straight. She won the gold. At the 60-metre race at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, she finished at an awesome time of 7.28 seconds.
Walking towards the podium she shouted, “For the people of Iran. For the happiness of the people of Iran!”
Declining Iranian flag and refusing national anthem, her protest went viral. This was a statement gesture by the ferocious lady to mourn the tragedy of the young Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who in 2022 collapsed and died. She was detained by Iran’s morality police for wearing an “improper hijab” (headscarf).
Making international headlines, the gesture instigated the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement.
After winning gold at Asian level, Farzaneh Fasihi aims to achieve bigger goals on global level.
Farzaneh Fasihi’s Aims for the Future
Fasihi made her first step towards Olympics by participating in Tokyo 2020 via universality placement. She entered the Tokyo Olympics through policy giving chance to underrepresented countries to participate. According to International Olympic Committee (IOC), they can select the athlete who doesn’t qualify the standard criteria.
At Tokyo, Fasihi couldn’t give her best. And sees Paris Olympics as an opportunity to prove her caliber, she told Al Jazeerah,
“What makes Paris [2024 Olympics] different is that I will compete on my own merit – not through universality placement,”
Farzaneh also pointed out, the challenges that the participants face. There lies a disparity across the continent,
“In Qatar, for example, athletes work with American trainers and the federation invites analysts, physiotherapists, and sports medicine physicians from around the world. Even China and Japan coordinate training camps in Florida [in the United States],” she said.
In May 2024, Fasihi found a bigger challenge in the Doha Diamond League’s 100-metre race. She came last in the final, encountering strong contenders from the US, United Kingdom, Hungary, and Jamaica.
But her unwavering determination and dedication, looks forward to compete at Paris Olympics,
“Competing at the Olympics is a big challenge. My goal is to compete with myself. I want to beat my own record.”
Despite the lack of official support from the Iranian government, Farzaneh Fasihi is steadfast in achieving her goal. She finances her training and keeps going.
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Tabinda Mir is a writer from Kashmir. She is an English Honours graduate and her interests primarily dwell in poetry and sports writing. She likes to cover Cricket as an avid fan. Apart from sports, her other publications include articles, poems and a letter to summer in the book titled, “Under The Summer Skies”.
Also, her leisure time activities include reading novels, poetry, non literary works, philosophies and writing poetry, short stories, articles on diverse themes.
