His name appears at the very bottom of the ranking sheet for the cycling time trial on Wednesday.
Masomah Ali Zada finished 25th in the event, almost 14 minutes behind the winner Annemiek van Vleuten and more than nine minutes behind the competitor who precedes her in the standings.
A hole.
But the essential is not there for this Afghan athlete returned from hell to play her first Olympic Games under the banner of the 29 refugee athletes, scattered far from their country of origin.
To discover
The full Olympic program
The Olympic medal table
Masomah had to leave his native land at the age of 8.
Coming from the Shiite Hazara minority persecuted by the Taliban, she fled the country with her family to Iran, where she started cycling.
A passion that quickly became consuming that she pursued in Afghanistan when she returned with the family clan.
His talent was quickly noticed.
She joined the women's national team at 16, but going out in a tight-fitting suit went very badly in the eyes of many of her compatriots.
The young Muslim must train discreetly, out of sight most of the time, even being forced to hide her activity from those close to her, fortunately not from her parents who support her.
"Me, I knew it was difficult but I never imagined that people could hit us"
Masomah ali zada
"
Me, I knew it was difficult but I never imagined that people could hit us
," she explains, recalling the painful memory of a man getting out of his car to kick him.
“
Almost every girl who rode a bike has had this experience
” of men hitting them.
“A
lot of people insulted us and wanted us to stop cycling,
” says the young woman.
As the victories accumulated, Masomah found it increasingly difficult to manage his exposure. The
Arte
channel
devoted a documentary to his career entitled
Les Petites Reines de Kaboul
. The pressure from outside then becomes stronger and stronger. She even becomes untenable when her uncles insist on seeing her let go of the bike. At France Info, his trainer Thierry Communal describes an infernal environment made up of “
throwing stones, insults, harassment, death threats from the Taliban and forced marriage from the Hazara community.
"Wishing to fulfill herself as a woman and as an athlete, she decided to seek asylum in France in 2016"
despite the pain of leaving the country. But when we see that there is no other choice to be safe, we have to, we leave.
"
By dint of hard work and willpower and thanks to a program dedicated to asylum seekers, she entered the second year of civil engineering at the Lille Polytechnic University in 2020. When she left university benches, she got on her handlebars. and trains six days a week. She assimilates everything very quickly. “
She is voluntary. She is intelligent. The advantage she has is that she understands right away. We explain the techniques and tactics, she immediately understands what to do. We don't need to repeat. This is a considerable advantage
, ”explains, admiringly, a supervisor, Jean-Jacques Henry.
“It doesn't matter where I finished.
I gave some hope to refugees around the world.
Dreams can come true ”
Masomah ali zada
Efforts pay off in the end.
On June 8, she learned of her selection for the Olympics.
The dream becomes reality.
On Wednesday, Masomah rode for the 82 million refugees and undoubtedly also for the women of his country, who did not have the chance to change their destiny.
With the feeling of duty accomplished.
“
It doesn't matter where I finished.
I gave some hope to refugees around the world.
Dreams can come true,
”she concluded moments after crossing the finish line.
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