We are in 2021, in Konya, Türkiye, in the fifth edition of the Islamic Solidarity Games.
Farzaneh Fasihi’s heart races as she stands at the starting line, the lingering effects of a COVID-19 infection still wearing her down.
Her chest is tight, but she is determined to compete.
The starting gun fires and she moves forward as fast as she can, her legs pumping faster than ever.
When she crosses the finish line, she faints; not from exhaustion, but from the overwhelming emotion of breaking her own 100-meter dash record, clocking a lightning-fast time of 11.12 seconds to win the silver medal.
“The night before the race, memories of my life come into my mind. All the difficulties I have faced and all my successes pass before my eyes like a film reel,” Fasihi told Al Jazeera, speaking in an interview via Zoom from Belgrade, Serbia. She is in a training camp ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics, which begin on July 26, and where Iran’s all-time fastest female runner will compete in her favorite event, the 100-meter sprint.
Fasihi is no stranger to challenges, but a strong support system in her personal life has helped her through it all.
“I didn’t want to do that”
Born in 1993 in Isfahan, Iran, Fasihi, 31, comes from a family of athletes. His father was a volleyball player and his brother was a swimming and diving champion.
“Before I got married, my father participated in all my training,” she remembers. “My mother also participated in all my competitions. Without their support, I wouldn’t have made it.”
From the age of five to 12, Fasihi did gymnastics. She remembers how her first foray into competitive running was more by chance than design.
“In high school, my physical education teacher forced me to participate in a running competition. I didn’t want to do that,” recalls Fasihi. That day, she broke the Isfahan provincial record, igniting her passion for athletics.
In 2016, she made her international debut.
Fasihi’s team performed well above expectations, winning the silver medal in the 4×400 meter relay at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar.
But his remarkable performance didn’t propel his racing career to new heights. With little support from the Iranian athletics federation, she left everything behind and became a personal trainer.
Everything changed at the end of 2018, when she decided to give competitive sprinting a second chance.
A year later, that decision led to an unexpected result: she married one of her coaches, Amir Hosseini, who has been her biggest supporter.
In 2020, with a support structure now firmly established with Hosseini, Fasihi’s career literally took off.
She participated in the World Indoor Athletics Championships, where the relatively unknown runner burned up the track with a sensational entry record time of 7.29 seconds in the 60-meter sprint held in Belgrade, Serbia.
Fasihi not only came out of nowhere to post a fast time, but also created history by becoming the first Iranian woman to compete in the championship. Her shocking performance in Belgrade was where she first received the nickname “Jaguar”, a testament to her ferocious speed from the starting block.
A year later, in 2021, she signed with Serbian athletics club BAK, becoming the first female legionnaire – which effectively means a club signs and sponsors a foreign athlete to move and compete for them – in the history of Serbian athletics. Iran.
“Becoming a legionnaire was a new path. It was a big risk, but deep down I felt I had to do it,” she said, hoping it would inspire other Iranian athletes.
To clear things up – this is ‘for the people’
In 2023, Fasihi would win gold in the 60 meter race at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan, clocking a brilliant time of 7.28 seconds.
As remarkable and celebratory as this personal best performance was – setting a new Asian 60-metre sprint record would normally be cause for wild celebrations – the day would be remembered for something much more profound.
As Fasihi took the podium, she turned directly to the camera and shouted: “For the people of Iran. For the happiness of the people of Iran!”
His moment of protest was viral on social media, with Fasihi refusing to carry the Iranian flag and instead bowing his head while shedding silent tears, refusing to sing the national anthem on victory days.
This was her statement, or way, of expressing the tragedy of the young Iranian woman Mahsa Aminiwho in 2022 collapsed and died, allegedly after being detained by Iran’s morality police for wearing an “inappropriate hijab” (headscarf).
Amini’s death made international headlines and galvanized activists around the world through the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement.
Olympic dream
Two years earlier, Fasihi had already taken the first step towards her Olympic dream by being selected through the so-called universality placement to participate in Tokyo 2020.
Universal placement is a policy set by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that allows athletes from underrepresented countries to participate even if they do not meet the standard qualification criteria. The policy exists to ensure broader global representation and inclusion at the Olympic Games.
In Tokyo, Fasihi competed in the 100-meter sprint, marking Iran’s return to this event after a 57-year hiatus. At the 1964 Summer Olympics, also in Tokyo, Simin Safamehr made history as the first female athlete to represent Iran at the games, coincidentally competing in the 100-meter sprint as well as the long jump.
Fasihi placed 50th in Tokyo while facing scrutiny over her hijab, triggering a firestorm of debate on Iranian social media as some claimed the strict dress code held her back, hampering her performance and limiting her media exposure and opportunities to sponsorship.
But the Tokyo Olympics were also an opportunity for her to meet her sprinting idol, Jamaican track and field superstar Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. “I liked her even more when we met. Her lifestyle is impressive as she is a professional athlete, wife and mother and helps many charities.
For Fasihi, his performance in Tokyo was below his best – but it only fueled his ambition to do better next time.
“What makes Paris [2024 Olympics] The difference is that I will compete on my own merit – not through universal placement,” Fasihi told Al Jazeera.
Despite systemic challenges, especially the lack of official government support for elite female athletes in Iran, Fasihi remains steadfast in achieving her goals. She self-funds her training, participates in competitions and is working to secure modest sponsorships.
Fasihi believes extensive investment in sport by countries such as China, India and Japan will produce impressive results in Asian athletics, but notes the disparity in resources across the continent.
“In Qatar, for example, athletes work with American coaches and the federation invites analysts, physiotherapists and sports medicine doctors from around the world. Even China and Japan coordinate training camps in Florida [in the United States],” she said.
In May 2024, Fasihi competed in the Doha Diamond League 100 meter race, but came last in the final against a star-studded line-up of sprinters from the US, UK, Hungary and Jamaica.
At the Paris Olympics, she will face the best athletes in the world. She is not someone who has unrealistic expectations. She only focuses on what she can control – and that is her performance.
“Competing in the Olympics is a big challenge,” Fasihi said. “My goal is to compete with myself. I want to beat my own record.”
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
