Afghan female cyclist who disguised herself as man to train wins Asian Games silver

Nagoya: Afghan cyclist Fariba Hashimi, who once disguised herself as a man to train in her home country, has won a silver medal at the Asian Games, becoming Afghanistan’s first female medallist at the Games since 2002.

The 23-year-old from Faryab province in northern Afghanistan finished second in the women’s road race near Nagoya, Japan, on Tuesday in a time of 2 hours, 50 minutes, 5 seconds, behind China’s Guo Li. She had earlier finished seventh in the women’s individual time trial on Sunday.

For Hashimi, the podium was the culmination of a journey marked by harassment and exile. Growing up, she began cycling at 15, following her older sister Yulduz, who is also an international cyclist. To train, she said she wore loose men’s clothes and two to three masks to hide her face.”All the time when I was going to training, I was dressing as a guy,” Hashimi told the Associated Press in Shinshiro after the race. “Because sometimes when they recognised me, they were trying to throw stones or hitting me.”

The situation became untenable after the Taliban returned to power in 2021. “In 2021, when the Taliban moved into my country, I escaped my country because I wanted to follow my dream,” she said. With help from former Italian world champion Alessandra Cappellotto, she fled and resettled in Italy where she now lives and trains. She and her sister competed for Afghanistan at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Hashimi said the silver was “something special” and dedicated it to Afghan women.”I was born inside a country where the women who dream are getting attacked, and I’m really happy that I have fought against that,” she said. “I hope that the next generation will come here and represent their country without any fear.”

“They took away our freedom, they took away everything from us,” she added. “This silver medal can show a lot of resilience from Afghan women, and I’m really happy. I’m not alone. I know that behind me millions of women, from many countries, have the same dream and they are standing with me.”

Speaking about her future, Hashimi said: “I hope one day I come back in my country and ride the streets of Kabul — and riding with the women side by side to share the same passion. And I hope in the future to change some things.”