Japan(Tokyo) Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin has fallen short in her bid to become the first member of the Refugee Olympic team to win a medal. She lost in the bronze medal match on Sunday in the women’s taekwondo 57-kilogram category.
Alizadeh started off by beating an opponent from her home country Iran in a preliminary matchup. She advanced through two more rounds before losing in the semifinals.
In the bronze medal match, she took on Turkey’s Hatice Kubra Ilgun, but lost 6 points to 8.
This was the 23-year-old’s second Olympics.
She previously won bronze in the 2016 Rio Games, where she competed for Iran. She was the country’s first female Olympic medalist.
Alizadeh defected from Iran in 2020 after making comments critical of the government. She now lives in Germany where she was granted refugee status.
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