The easy part for Fariba Hashimi was winning a silver medal in the women's cycling road race at the Asian Games.
The nearly impossible part for the female cyclist from Afghanistan was trying to train in her country. To do that, she dressed as a man in a place where women have few rights. “All the time when I was going to training,” she said, “I was dressing as a guy.” She said she also hid her face when she could in order to not be recognised.
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“Because sometimes when they recognised me, they were trying to throw stones or hitting me," she said.
Hashimi won silver Tuesday in a time of 2 hours, 50 minutes, 5 seconds, which marked another leg in a journey that began in 2021 when she left Afghanistan.
“In 2021, when the Taliban moved into my country, I escaped my country because I wanted to follow my dream,” she said. “I want to show the Afghan women in the world that.... we can have an opportunity.”
Hashimi talked about having many dreams for women in Afghanistan, dreams for herself and dreams that may take time to be realised.
“I’m really, really happy and I’m full of emotion. I don’t know how I can explain it for you,” she 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," she explained.
“And I hope in the future to change some things,” she added. “I think we are really tired of the situation in our country, and I hope the Taliban is watching. I know how much one woman can be powerful and that's why the Taliban is scared of women.”
