Refugee Olympic Team’s Nigara Shaheen an inspiration to all
This summer, while Canada sent 315 athletes to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics, also flying out was Nigara Shaheen, who participated in the sport’s biggest competition under the banner of the Refugee Olympic Team.
Born in Afghanistan, Shaheen is a judoka who competes in the under 70kg category, having first fallen in love with judo at the age of just 11, when she was a refugee in Pakistan. Her story is sure to inspire empathy and respect in equal measure: Her parents along with six-month-old Shaheen and her two siblings fled Afghanistan for Pakistan in 1993. It was an arduous journey that after travelling to the border by car, involved trekking for two days and two nights over the mountains that separate both countries, Shaheen’s mother carrying her all the way.
Focus of a documentary
Nigara Shaheen and two other members of the 36-strong Refugee Olympic Team are the subjects of a documentary called Women of No Nation, which sheds light on the struggles they endured when they were forced to flee their homes and start all over again in a foreign land, often separated from their families while they struggled to understand the language, culture and customs of their new home.
“Before becoming a refugee, I had dreams,” says Shaheen in the documentary trailer. “I told my mom that I will go to the Olympics one day. I will carry the flag of Afghanistan, and I will represent Afghanistan.”
Although she didn’t get to fly the flag of her homeland, she still did achieve her dream of going to the Olympics, one that came almost by chance.
Also watch: Immigrants’ journey to success: We speak with the Afghan community in Canada
Nigara Shaheen’s first shot at the Olympics
In 2019, while in Yekaterinburg, Russia for her master’s degree, she was spotted by a member of the International Judo Federation. On learning Shaheen was a refugee, she was asked to try out for the Refugee Olympic Team at Tokyo 2020. That event opened her eyes to what it meant to fly the flag for refugees and asylum seekers around the world, who were fleeing war and persecution to build a better life.
“I got into the Olympics thanks to the refugee team,” says Shaheen, in the trailer. “I am representing billions of refugees around the world. I’m even prouder to be part of this team because this is who I am. This is my story.”
Moving to Canada
She was still fresh from her time in Japan, however, Shaheen’s world turned upside down when in August 2021, the US withdrew from Afghanistan, once again plunging her future into doubt. “I felt what it meant to lose everything…my world changed after that,” she recalls.
Fortunately, Shaheen was able to seek safety in Canada: a partnership between the UN, the Olympic Refugee Foundation in Canada, and World University Service Canada – an organization that helps refugees study and settle in the country – enabled her to enroll at Centennial College in Toronto.
“I was so glad to be part of this amazing program where I am not hesitant sharing my journey and the fact that I am a refugee,” she says, in an interview shared by the UNHCR. “It validates our journey as student refugees.”
Alongside her studies, ahead of the Olympics, Shaheen also trained three times a day at the Ipé Dojo on Bloor Street.
Shaheen representing the Refugee Olympic Team has also received high praise from the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) “An Olympian who stands up for what she believes in, Shaheen is also a determined and impressive advocate for women’s rights,” said COC President Tricia Smith.” Her inspiring journey from Afghanistan to Canada gives hope to others and is a testament to resilience and the transformative power of sport.”
Also read: Canada’s refugee determination system: How it works
An inspiration to us all
The story of grit, determination, perseverance, and dedication that are personified by Nigara Shaheen and the other athletes who represent refugees around the world is an inspiration to all of us. They also serve as a reminder of what it means to be faced with challenges that many of us are fortunate to escape.
So, how does Shaheen see her journey so far? As she says in the documentary, “Everything that I have done, all the struggles paid off”.
Also read: Toronto welcomes Little Amal, a unique girl who helps refugees to be seen
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