PARIS – When Nigara Shaheen was six months old, her parents fled Afghanistan and carried her in her mother’s arms. Last week, she stepped onto the judo mat in Paris for her second Olympic Games, the culmination of a journey that took her from country to country and, finally, to Canada, in search of a place to live, study and train.
Shaheen, who has been living in Toronto since 2022, said coming to Paris as part of the Refugee Olympic Team was a “dream come true.”
“It’s a joy and I’m very excited to be part of this team for the second time, but at the same time it’s also a huge responsibility,” she said. “I feel like we can spread the message we want to spread through our team and through the different platforms we have as athletes.”
Shaheen’s Olympic history in Paris was not perfect. She lost to Mexico’s Prisca Awiti Alcaraz in the judo round of 32, and the refugee team also lost in the mixed team elimination round of 32 by a 4-0 margin to Spain. Shaheen had also dropped a weight class, moving from the 70-kilogram class in Tokyo to the 63-kilogram class in Paris.
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She said that while she feels physically better prepared than ever, she still has work to do to control her emotions on the mat.
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“I just want to grab the person and win the match, which doesn’t always work out the same way and is very risky,” he said. “I think I need to work on that, calm down a bit and take more time on the mat so I can make my way.”
Shaheen’s path to the Olympics has not been easy. She took up martial arts as a way to defend herself against the bullying she faced as a refugee child in Pakistan. Unable to attend regular schools that offered extracurricular activities, her mother convinced a local teacher to give her her first martial arts class on a relative’s small balcony in Peshawar.
Shaheen returned to Afghanistan at the age of 18 to study and then to Russia, where she was studying when she was invited to the 2020 Tokyo Games. She then wanted to return to Afghanistan, but the political situation had deteriorated, so she returned to Pakistan, where she became a “second-time refugee.”
She said that throughout this time she faced pressure from society to abandon her sport, and that she and her family were harassed at times for her decision to participate in combat sports as a woman. “In my country, they don’t respect sport as a career,” she said.
In 2022, she moved to Canada, where she completed graduate studies in international development at Centennial College in Toronto. She also obtained permanent residency. While moving to Canada provided her with opportunities, it also forced her to make the painful decision to leave her parents for the second time.
Shaheen said sport has been the one constant in her life, helping her get through her darkest days.
“When I get really stressed, I like to train judo,” he said. He completes tasks as quickly as he can, “so I can forget what’s going on in my life.”
She hopes to one day write a book on the philosophy of sport and believes judo has lessons that can be transferred to everyday life.
“The first thing you have to do is learn how to fall,” he said. “That’s life.”
There is also a balance, he said. “You have to find a balance between everything in order to get somewhere.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 5, 2024.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
