Refugee Olympic athlete Yekta Jamali Galeh on inspiring female weightlifters: “Every woman is strong, you just have to keep going”
“History will remember everything you do” is the quote that lies at the top of Yekta Jamali Galeh’s Instagram profile, and she will have the chance to write history of her own at the Olympic Games.
Galeh is heading to Paris as part of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team, which she has been selected to represent in the weightlifting women’s 81kg competition at Paris 2024.
Originally from the Islamic Republic of Iran, a country with a rich Olympic history in weightlifting, she is one of two weightlifters and the only female weightlifter in the 36-strong refugee team announced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Yekta Jamali Galeh: from handball player to weightlifting Olympian
Galeh’s story is unique, as her name infers: Yekta translates to ‘the only one’. Her weightlifting journey began just six years ago; before that she was a handball player for three years. The 19-year-old has persevered and fought to establish herself in a new sport in little time.
“I think my mom had a hard life,” Galeh tells Olympics.com, “and she told me that when I was in her belly, she felt that I will be a strong person. That´s why she gave me the name Yekta.”
She thanks her sister, who brought her along to a weightlifting training session, for her first steps in the sport. “She wanted to do it and I just came to watch her,” Galeh explains. “The coach told me, ‘You can try it too.’ I did, and he was like, ‘Wow, you are so strong!’ So I came the next day and then the day after that, then week after week.”
That training session would change her life and her career. Galeh began weightlifting training, and within three years she had made her competitive debut. “I train every day,” she explains, “my only rest days are Thursday and Sunday. On Sundays, I often meet my friends, as it’s not so easy to do so during the week.”
Galeh already has several accolades to her name. She excelled at national junior levels and placed third in her first international competition at the 2021 IWF Junior World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Later that year, she won a medal at the Youth World Championships and finished in the top 10 of her first senior competition, despite being the youngest by two years in the women’s 87kg event. Of course, age is just a number and Galeh wants to prove that she can compete with weightlifters with more years and experience.
In May 2022, Galeh arrived in Germany as a refugee, and the country became her host National Olympic Committee. She is one of seven athletes to have received a Refugee Athlete Scholarship from the Olympic Refuge Foundation, which supports her training and preparations in Germany for the upcoming Games.
Taking a leap of faith to Paris 2024
Galeh uses her social media to post inspirational quotes, and there is one that embodies the journey she has been on: ‘Make that move you are afraid of making.’
“My whole life was like this sentence,” she explains, “When I was scared, I was thinking of that and told myself I will go to Germany. I was scared to leave my family, but I did it.
“I am nothing without them, I came to Germany because of the sport, so I have to get up every day. I want my family to be happy. I don’t have just one goal, I have many.”
In fact, Galeh does not want to reveal her specific goals, at least before the Olympic Games, where she hopes they are realised. Just competing at Paris 2024 will be a dream come true for the teenager.
The women’s 81kg competition is the penultimate female weightlifting competition of the Games, set to take place on 10 August 2024 at the South Paris Arena 6.
One of those ambitions will be following in the footsteps of legendary Iranian weightlifter Sohrab Moradi, who won gold at Rio 2016 in the men’s middle-heavyweight event. “He’s very strong and a good person,” Galeh says of her sporting role model, “I have to keep going every day like he does.”
Galeh was and is inspired by an Olympic champion to pursue her sporting dreams, and if she were to achieve one thing from her Olympic debut, it would be inspiring women across the world to take up weightlifting.
“Every woman is strong, you just have to keep going,” she says. “Why shouldn’t they do weightlifting? Don’t listen to what other people say.”