Afghani female sprinter resists country's old ideals, vows to show women new future

[obamanut2012]

ONDON – She could see the men gathering along the track where she trained back home in Kabul, a daunting gauntlet of soccer and volleyball players surrounding the lone woman in the stadium. And Tahmina Kohistani tensed. Something felt wrong. Then they began to shout.

"You can't win a medal from the Olympics, it's not your job!"

"Just be in your house!"

"It's not good for us for an Afghan girl to run!"

"Be behind your man!"

For a moment, tears burned in her eyes. It was not long before she would go to London, to become the only female athlete from a country that does not believe women should play sports. And after 10 minutes of the taunts, she went home that day saying she would not come back. She said she was through. She said she could never face the men again.

But the next morning she did return, because if she didn't, who would? Who would tell the women in her country that they could run too? Who would push for their freedom?

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http://sports.yahoo.com/news/olympics--afghani-female-sprinter-resists-country-s-old-ideals--vows-to-show-women-new-future.html


Interesting article (and short), I recommend taking a couple minutes to read it.

A lot of kick-ass and brave women in London.