Tokyo: Afghan Swimmer Abbas Karimi determined his view to become a member of the first refugee team to win the Paralympics medal on Friday, almost a decade after he escaped from his homeland who was looking for a new life.
Karimi qualified for the Final Butterfly S5 50M man and said after that “thoughts and prayers” with Afghans after the Taliban takeover.
Swimmer is one of six athletes who represent the Refugee Paralympic team in Tokyo, after escaping conflict in Afghanistan at the age of 16 and finally settled in the United States.
He qualifies for the final Friday with 36.36sec in third place in its heat, and said the scenery is now strongly set at Paralympic gold.
“If I don’t go for medals, all the training, all hard work will be a waste of time,” said the 24-year-old player, who was born without a weapon.
“We always practice for a purpose, for purpose, and it’s gold.
I’ll go for gold.” The Afghan team was not in Tokyo, after the National Paralympic Committee said it was “unable to compete” after the return of Taliban to power.
The team, consisting of only two taekwondo athletes, since it had been evacuated from Afghanistan although officials have refused to say where they ended up.
Karimi said he was concentrating on his performance, but that the people of the former homeland in his mind.
“Afghans exist in my mind and in my prayer,” he said.
“I represent refugees and 80 million people who are displaced, and I represent the world.” Karimi began to swim at the age of 13 and immediately fell in love with sports after overcoming his initial fear.
He decided to escape from Afghanistan three years later with the help of his brother, and flew to Iran before starting a dangerous journey through the mountains to Turkey.
After four years there, he was given permission to live back in the US, and won the silver medal in the 2017 world swimming championship in Mexico.
Now he aims for the success of the Paralympics as part of the refugee team, after carrying a flag at the opening ceremony along with his teammate Alia Issa.
“That means everything because I’m a refugee,” he said.
“It is very reasonable to represent the Refugee Paralympic team and represent millions of people who are moved throughout the world.
We just want to give world expectations.” Karimi also competes in the back style of S5 50m in Tokyo.
“It means everything, because during the last nine years I gave up everything to make it at this level, and here I was at the 2020 Paralympics,” he said.
“I’m very, very happy to be here, and I just want to thank Japanese people and all volunteers – they are very kind, very good.”