Afghan Olympian Farzad Mansouri: ‘I couldn’t allow the camp to affect me’

Farzad Mansouri settles into his stance and starts to bounce on his toes before unleashing a spinning kick, the precise but powerful blow thundering into the padded midriff of his training partner. The thud of impact, accompanied with a roar, is still reverberating in the training hall of the National Taekwondo Centre in Manchester when he returns to his stance, ready to go again. It is here that Mansouri finds himself truly in his element.

“It’s so good to be training again after so long,” he says. “I feel great to be here.” In July 2021 Mansouri, the Afghan champion, represented his country at the Tokyo Olympics, with the honour of parading the Afghanistan flag during the opening ceremony. It was a moment Mansouri was immensely proud of. It was also a moment that he soon came to regret.

As US forces withdrew from Afghanistan, the Taliban swept to power across the country. Mansouri’s father worked for the Afghan government and his family is Tajik, a group who have been historically suppressed by the Taliban. He feared that his high profile and affiliation with the fallen regime would lead to his family being targeted. A month after Mansouri had paraded through the Japan National Stadium, he and his family were among the tens of thousands of Afghans who made their way to the Hamid Karzai international airport, hoping to be evacuated during one of the largest airlifts in history.

After an excruciating 24-hour wait outside the airport, Mansouri and five of his family members were ushered on to a flight in the early hours of 24 August bound for the UAE. It was during his evacuation that GB Taekwondo was made aware of Mansouri’s story.

“Farzad clearly has the skills and ability to be a champion, but no longer had the