Iran’s only female Olympic medallist Kimia Alizadeh announced Saturday she has permanently left her country, citing the “hypocrisy” of a system she claims humiliates athletes while using them for political ends. Criticising Iran’s political system for “hypocrisy”, “lying”, “injustice” and “flattery”, she said she wanted nothing more than “taekwondo, security and a happy and healthy life”. “I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran with whom they have been playing for years,” the 21-year-old wrote. She continued: “None of us matter to them.”“No one invited me to Europe,” she wrote, without saying where she was. The semi-official ISNA news agency carried a report on Thursday saying: “Shock for Iran’s taekwondo.

Source: Punch January 11, 2020 21:00 UTC