Mother and refugee Mahboubeh Barbari Zharfi makes successful Olympic debut at Paris 2024
One down, one to go.
Mahboubeh Barbari Zharfi made her Olympic debut at Paris 2024 on Friday (2 August) as one of six judokas in the Refugee Olympic Team.
The 32-year-old lost to Moira Morillo of the Dominican Republic in the +78kg women’s event at the Champ-de-Mars Arena.
Morillo’s Ippon ended the contest after 39 seconds, but Barbari Zharfi’s Olympics is not over, as she goes again in the mixed team event on Saturday (3 August).
The Refugee Olympic Team face Spain in the elimination round of 32 on Saturday morning.
“I want to give it my all,” she told Olympics.com. “I want to prove one thing: even if you are a single mother and a refugee, you can achieve your goal and your biggest dream. For my daughter, I want to be a person to look up to.”
Barbari Zharfi left the Islamic Republic of Iran and sought asylum in Germany along with her daughter back in 2018.
“Everything was totally different compared to my life in Iran: the culture, the weather. But I have one big strength: I like to interact with people. That helped me a lot and now everything is fine,” she told Olympics.com.
Barbari Zharfi, who boasts a third dan black belt, used that strength to make friends on the circuit, while she has also taken on roles as a judge and coach in the sport.
Now living and training in Monchengladbach, Barbari Zharfi was named on the refugee team’s roster for Paris 2024 in May.