Sunday's taekwondo match between Kimia Alizadeh and Iran's Nahid Kiyanichandeh at the Tokyo Olympic Games is not one viewers will likely forget soon.
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Alizadeh is a former Iranian taekwondoin, who won a bronze medal for the Islamist Republic at the Rio Olympics back in 2016, the only woman to do so in her homeland's history. She has since fled to Germany, after having had enough of the regime that used her as a propaganda tool, she said.
Iran has a long history of using its athletes for its political agendas. It has repeatedly withdrawn athletes from international competitions that would match them up against Israeli athletes and in 2020 executed 27-year-old judoka Navid Afkari who dared criticize the regime.
Competing under the white flag of the Refugee Olympic team, 23-year old Alizadeh beat former compatriot Kiyanichandeh in the women's 57 kilograms (125 pounds) elimination round.
She was a clear favorite in the arena, and was received with applause by members of the media and the few spectators present in the venue. No general public viewers are allowed this year inside the Olympic arenas due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Cheers erupted again when Alizadeh finished the match against Kiyanichandeh with an 18-9 win. She is one of three taekwondoins and 29 athletes competing for the refugee team at Tokyo.
After qualifying in the elimination round, Alizadeh went up against Britain's Jade Jones, stripping the British athlete of her dream of becoming a three-time consecutive gold medalist.
She went on to defeat China's Zhou Lijun in the quarterfinals, and came within striking distance of winning a bronze medal, but lost in the semi-finals against Turkey's Hatice Kubra Ilgun.
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