Iran’s only female Olympic medalist defects, calls out regime: ‘I am one of the millions of oppressed women …’

(Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Besides losing its top general, Iran has also lost its one and only female Olympic medalist.

On Saturday, Iranian Taekwondo Olympian Kimia Alizadeh responded to rumors that she’d defected from the country where she was born and raised by publishing an Instagram post in Farsi admitting to the defection and outlining the reasons for it.

“Let me start with a greeting, a farewell or condolences. … I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran who they have been playing with for years,” she wrote, according to a translation of the original post provided by CNN.

“They took me wherever they wanted. I wore whatever they said. Every sentence they ordered me to say, I repeated. Whenever they saw fit, they exploited me. I wasn’t important to them. None of us mattered to them, we were tools.”

She added that she “didn’t want to sit at the table of hypocrisy, lies, injustice and flattery” and be complicit with the rogue regime’s “corruption and lies.”

My troubled spirit does not fit with your dirty economic ties and tight political lobbies. I wish for nothing else than for Taekwondo, safety and for a happy and healthy life.”

View the original post below:

 

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با سلام آغاز کنم، با خداحافظی یا تسلیت؟ سلام مردم مظلوم ایران، خداحافظ مردم نجیب ایران، تسلیت به شما مردم همیشه داغدار ایران. شما مرا چقدر می‌شناسید؟ فقط آنطور که در مسابقات، در تلویزیون، یا در حضور مقامات دیده‌اید. اجازه دهید حالا آزادانه، هویت سانسور شده‌ام را معرفی کنم. می‌گویند کیمیا پس از این چیزی نخواهد شد. خودم از این هم فراتر می‌روم و می‌گویم قبل از این هم چیزی نبوده‌ام: «من کیمیا علیزاده، نه تاریخسازم، نه قهرمانم، نه پرچمدار کاروان ایران» من یکی از میلیون‌ها زن سرکوب شده در ایرانم که سال‌هاست هر طور خواستند بازی‌ام دادند. هر کجا خواستند بردند. هر چه گفتند پوشیدم. هر جمله‌ای دستور دادند تکرار کردم. هر زمان صلاح دیدند، مصادره‌ام کردند. مدال‌هایم را پای حجاب اجباری گذاشتند و به مدیریت و درایت خودشان نسبت دادند. من برایشان مهم نبودم. هیچکداممان برایشان مهم نیستیم، ما ابزاریم. فقط آن مدال‌های فلزی اهمیت دارد تا به هر قیمتی که خودشان نرخ گذاشتند از ما بخرند و بهره‌برداری سیاسی کنند، اما همزمان برای تحقیرت، می‌گویند: فضیلت زن این نیست که پاهایش را دراز کند! من صبح‌ها هم از خواب بیدار می‌شوم پاهایم ناخودآگاه مثل پنکه می‌چرخد و به در و دیوار می‌گیرد. آنوقت چگونه می‌توانستم مترسکی باشم که می‌خواستند از من بسازند؟ در برنامه زنده تلویزیون، سوال‌هایی پرسیدند که دقیقاً بخاطر همان سوال دعوتم کرده بودند. حالا که نیستم می‌گویند تن به ذلت داده‌ام. آقای ساعی! من آمدم تا مثل شما نباشم و در مسیری که شما پیش رفتید قدم برندارم. من در صورت تقلید بخشی از رفتارهای شما، بیش از شما می‌توانستم به ثروت و قدرت برسم. من به اینها پشت کردم. من یک انسانم و می‌خواهم بر مدار انسانیت باقی بمانم. در ذهن‌های مردسالار و زن‌ستیزتان، همیشه فکر می‌کردید کیمیا زن است و زبان ندارد! روح آزرده من در کانال‌های آلوده اقتصادی و لابی‌های تنگ سیاسی شما نمی‌گنجد. من جز تکواندو، امنیت و زندگی شاد و سالم درخواست دیگری از دنیا ندارم. مردم نازنین و داغدار ایران، من نمی‌خواستم از پله‌های ترقی که بر پایه فساد و دروغ بنا شده بالا بروم. کسی به اروپا دعوتم نکرده و در باغ سبز به رویم باز نشده. اما رنج و سختی غربت را بجان می‌خرم چون نمی‌خواستم پای سفره ریاکاری، دروغ، بی عدالتی و چاپلوسی بنشینم. این تصمیم از کسب طلای المپیک هم سخت‌تر است، اما هر کجا باشم فرزند ایران زمین باقی می‌مانم. پشت به دلگرمی شما می‌دهم و جز اعتماد شما در راه سختی که قدم گذاشته‌ام، خواسته دیگری ندارم.

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Rumors of her departure first surfaced Thursday.

“The semi-official ISNA news agency on Thursday carried a report saying: ‘Shock for Iran’s Taekwondo. Kimia Alizadeh has emigrated to The Netherlands,'” The Times of Israel confirmed on Friday.

“According to ISNA, the coach of the women’s national team said that Alizadeh is suffering from an injury. It said Alizadeh did not show up for trials ahead of the Tokyo Games. ISNA and several other media believe that Alizadeh, who is reportedly training in The Netherlands, is hoping to compete in Tokyo but not under the Iranian flag.”

The Times notes that she rose to prominence in 2016 by winning a bronze medal for Taekwondo at the Rio Olympics. Because of Iran’s fundamentalist religious views and laws, she reportedly competed while wearing a headscarf, despite temperatures at the event reportedly ranging up to as high as 95 degrees Fahrenheit.

On Thursday, an image also emerged purportedly showing her standing among other Taekwondo players in The Netherlands. Of note is the fact that she wore no scarf.

Look:

At the time of the post, Iranian officials reportedly lashed out at the Iran Taekwondo Association for allowing Iran’s “human capital to flee.”

“If Alizadeh fails to represent Iran at the Tokyo Olympics it would be a huge blow for the Islamic republic. Along with judo, Taekwondo is one of Iran’s sporting strengths,” the Times notes.

Or rather, it used to be …

Iran used to also reportedly be known for its Judo stars. That too fell by the wayside after one, a top Judo star fled as a refugee to Germany after he exposed efforts by the nation’s government to avoid playing against Israel, and two, the International Judo Federation decreed the nation may not play until it stops with the antisemitic crap.

Alizadeh’s defection comes amid the recent elimination by the Trump administration of top Iranian general and terrorist mastermind Qasem Soleimani and the unintentional downing by the Iranian government of a Ukrainian flight that contained 82 Iranians.

While both events have provoked recriminations from the left against U.S. President Donald Trump, whom some Democrats and media pundits say “assassinated” Soleimani and thus caused Iran to shoot down the flight, the Iranian people themselves appear to feel differently about the matter.

Protests against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his corrupt administration officials (including the now-deceased Soleimani), as well the intentional and unintentional murders committed by them, have reportedly broken out all across Iran.

Look:

Much of this stunning footage has not yet made it into the feeds of the American media, though they have caught the attention of the president.

In tweets posted late Saturday in both English and Farsi, the president expressed his unequivocal support for the Iranian people:

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