Mahbooba Ahadgar Still Not In Italy, Probably Not In The Olympics

A couple weeks ago we weighed in on the story of Mahbooba Ahadgar, the third woman from Afghanistan to ever qualify for the Olympics. She disappeared from an Olympic training facility in Italy on July 4th and many people worried that the extremists who had been threatening her for weeks might have finally gotten their way. Well, there's good news and bad news. Mahbooba's alive, but her harassers might yet be getting their way.

Mahbooba's recently sought asylum in Norway because of the harassment directed at her and her family because of her audacity to train as an athlete and represent her country. Her father was beaten and jailed by the police multiple times and her family had taken to moving around to avoid the inevitable harassment and what they worries would be even worse violence. When Mahbooba realized that even her move to Italy to train wouldn't protect her or her family if she actually competed in the Olympics, she fled to the Scandinavian country and decided not to compete in the Games for the sake of everyone's safety.

In a sick twist of fate, the Afghan Olympic Committee is now threatening to use the corrupt police department that jailed her family for allowing her to compete in the Olympics to jail her family if she doesn't compete in the Olympics. So much for the Olympic spirit!

Dispatches From Afghanistan Sam: The Fastest Girl in Kabul [Mental Floss]

Send an email to Megan Carpentier, the author of this post, at askalobbyist@gmail.com.

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