When Sport Becomes State Business

I've been watching this case for awhile now and can't stop thinking of how many countries are doing this. I'm talking about Iran's only female Olympic medalist, Kimia Alizadeh, the Taekwondo athlete who had to leave her country because the situation has become unbearable.

I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran who they have been playing with for years. source

It is a miracle she has been allowed to compete in my opinion as women in Islamic countries are treated without respect (let me not use the words I want to). Kimia Alizadeh has got a chance to compete but the price she had to pay has been high.

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These countries are treating athletes as human capital and use them for political games. There's never about sports or athletes, it's always about the country and its political ambitions. Iran is not the only country doing this. As I said, Islamic countries are doing this and communist countries as well. I know this had been going on in Romania for decades. Athletes were told where to go or better said, were not allowed to do what they wanted. They were monitored all the time and they were told what to say in public. One wrong move or a wrong word and you were banned for life. China is the other country who's limiting human rights and controlling athletes.

I'm glad she has left Iran, I'm happy for her. She's still young, has a good chance for a nice career in sport, so why waste it for a country that does not deserve her.

Iran needs to wake up, the sooner, the better as there's no time to waste here. Saeid Mollaei (judo world champion), Alireza Firouzja (top-rated chess champion) and Alireza Faghani (international soccer referee) also left Iran. This should be a clear sign for authorities that something is not right. Iran is in a very difficult position at the moment after they has shot the Ukrainian plane, killing all the passengers and crew members, half of which were Iranian nationals. People are out on the streets, protesting and they won't go away unless something changes.

This medieval mentality must be dropped. People are not government or state property, they have rights as this is the 21th Century. They are not going to gain anything acting like this, reality confirms it.

Tokyo Olympics are a few months away and I'm curious to see who's going to represent Iran.