In an illustration of unity, the IOC and AOC then took the opportunity to change her life - an opportunity to enact one of its strongest values; that being, to use sport as a platform to power positive social change within Australian communities, enabling and encouraging harmony.

Now, in 2023, life looks a little different for Kimia as we chat to her in Australia.

It’s a far cry from her humble beginnings - Kimia’s parents fled Kandahar, Afghanistan during the Taliban’s previous reign, before she was born. They took refuge in neighbouring Iran where they raised Kimia and her three brothers.

It was there that 16-year-old Kimia took an interest in track athletics and her Olympic pathway began - a pathway that would create much more than just sporting achievement.

“After some practice, I realised I was quite good and had some talent and in 2012 I participated in a talent search program for Afghan immigrant girls living in Iran,” she said, recalling her competitive start in sport.

Within four years Kimia honed her skills and improved her times. She moved back to Afghanistan to train for selection to represent Afghanistan at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

She travelled across the globe to represent her country and says it was the best possible opportunity and event for her.

“I really enjoyed competing with the best athletes in the world. The feeling it gave me was one that has kept me motivated to keep pushing, to keep improving so I can stay competitive at their level,” she said.

Four years later Kimia once again qualified for the Olympic Team and was selected as the Flag-Bearer for the Afghan Team at Tokyo 2020, held in 2021, an honour she said she was very proud to be given.

“I’m proud to be Afghan and to be an Afghan girl,” she said. 

It was at Tokyo that she also achieved a Personal Best time and National Record after running the 100 metres in 13.29 seconds.

But while competing in Tokyo, her country fell under Taliban rule once more.

With the Taliban take-over came the restriction of women’s rights that included banning women from working, attending and teaching at university. The Taliban-interpreted Sharia Law also imposed the rule that women could only appear in public with a male chaperone, whilst also having their bodies completely covered. [1]

As a woman in sport, representing a country that now enforced such a harsh law, she became a target of the Taliban. Now, even returning to Iran would see training, competing and life become unsafe.

The AOC took measures with the assistance of the IOC to secure safe exit from the region for families who faced significant risk as a consequence of their support for the participation of women in sport and education.

Kimia, her mother and youngest brother were granted visas to travel to Australia, while her two older brothers stayed in Iran. Her family was separated but she had a chance to continue her Olympic career without day-to-day terror looming.

“I didn’t feel good about leaving,” she admitted.

“I was afraid of going to a country thousands of kilometres away from my home. I didn’t know any English and everything was unfamiliar but I know things always get better.”

On arrival in Sydney in 2022, 26-year-old Kimia and her family were greeted at the airport ahead of the start of a new life. She was welcomed into the Athletics Australia community where she began training for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

“It’s been a journey for me but I am very happy to be here. I am essentially starting a new life here. I am going to be training very hard and it would be exciting to go to Paris – I am definitely going to be competing,” she said on arrival in Australia.

Now in 2023, Kimia is studying English at TAFE and settling into life in Australia. It’s the acceptance and kindness of Australians en masse that has helped soften her landing in a new country.

“I’m enjoying TAFE and getting to know Sydney and its kind people,” she said.

“So many people have helped make me feel comfortable here and every day is better than the last.

“My physical condition and strength have improved a lot and I can’t wait to see if my race times have improved this year.”

Her Australian coach, John Quinn, a High Performance Coach and Physiologist, believes she has made those improvements, but that growth is not constrained only to the track.

Today (Tuesday 21 March) is Harmony Day. It's a day to recognise and celebrate the power of diversity and how being inclusive, respectful and kind can change lives.

As an athlete, a young woman and life-long refugee, Kimia’s story highlights the significant role that sport plays in the world; the opportunities it creates for individuals to grow, to bring communities together and create understanding of culture and inclusion.

To Kimia, harmony means “respect for each other no matter the difference.” It’s something people are unable to experience in her home country, yet she continues to hold hope.

Quinn, too, is an advocate for these same ideals. He is known by some as being the sporting United Nations; a leader in sport, who shares the values and integrity of the AOC and Olympic spirit, bringing together a number of refugee athletes in Australia. 

On Harmony Day, John leads by example.

“I coach people,” he said.

“I don’t coach colour, that of the skin, eyes or hair. I just want to bring out the best person on the track. I want to help them move and recover.

“Our training group is very used to having different cultures involved. It was good for Kimia to join our group and just feel like another athlete.

“When you have athletes like her, you see the spirit of sport. She embodies it all physically, mentally and spiritually, she’s lined it all up.

“Sport is very special. It transcends so many difficulties and barriers. It brings people together and reinforces the way the world should be. And athletics is the most international sport in the world.”

When Kimia turned up to training with John, he could see immediately that she was carrying a hip injury. Since her arrival, he has not only worked with expert volunteers to rehabilitate her injury, he says training with the group has allowed her to have access to, and train at standards, that she has never or may never have had access to.

“She’s come a long way,” he said.

“Firstly, with her language, I’m staggered at her progress.

“On the track, she now has a structured program, she’s surrounded by motivated and focused, world-class athletes. She’s moving better, she’s stronger and now just needs the competition. I have no doubt that she’ll be running the best times she’s ever run.”

For Kimia, there is no denying or forgetting the terror and the suffering of women still present in her home country. It’s what drives her to do her best, to train hard and make life in Australia work.

“I have many goals in life,” she said.

“But for now it’s very important for me to continue on this path and opportunity that sport has given me and to not give up.

“At a time when the Taliban has taken the rights of girls and women I need to be strong and value the gift I’ve been given because I don’t know what the future holds or if I will ever return home.”

While Kimia continues to inspire women and girls around the world, her own hero, her own inspiration, lies a little closer to her new home.

It isn’t a fellow Afghani or international Olympic champion. Unexpected yet noble – though not quite so surprising to her coach - her inspiration comes from within.

“Myself,” she replied.

“I don’t see anyone stronger than me, with what I’ve been through and continuing to live.”

Indeed, Quinn summed it up well when recalling a powerful proverb he heard Kimia say when asked how she could be hopeful when everything must seem so hopeless.

“She said, ‘a bird sits on a tree branch. It doesn’t rely on the branch, it relies on its own wings. I’m Kimia, I’m me,” he said.

[1] Reference: Council on Foreign Affairs