Olympic Games Paris 2024

Refugee Olympic taekwondo athlete Kasra Mehdipournejad looks to Paris 2024 to cast beyond status and spotlight team's strength and talent

By Evelyn Watta
5 min|
Kasra MEHDIPOURNEJAD

Picture by © 2024 / International Olympic Committee (IOC) / MARTIN, Greg

Once a star of his national taekwondo team, Kasra Mehdipournejad started questioning his ability in a sport that has shaped most of his life.

He was struggling with motivation and pondering whether he would ever rekindle the passion that burned brightly within him.

It had been years since he saw his family after leaving the Islamic Republic of Iran, and seeking asylum in Germany. His path had shifted, but he wouldn’t let his present state define him.

“It was not easy. This feeling was bothering me,” he tells Olympics.com.

“Without taekwondo, I could not [have] handled those moments in the new life as a refugee. It was a huge support in my life, because I could develop many other things on the side.”

Staying on the mat, training diligently for weeks, helped strengthen his resilience in the face of adversity.

“[I learnt] the only thing that we have to do is to follow my dreams. Because our dreams, they will show the way,” he says of the months he grappled with missing competitions due to visa issues.

The 31-year-old was among the Refugee Olympic Team named for Paris 2024 in May, an honour that has ignited a new purpose in Kasra - shifting the narrative surrounding refugees.

“We always get positive attention. But it's not because we are talented, and we are strong. It's because we are refugees, and we have had the difficult life, and they just want to show that they support us.”

The remarkable taekwondo journey of Kasra Mehdipournejad

As a young boy, Kasra exhibited athletic ability and sometimes imagined himself as a future football star.

He stumbled on martial arts 'by accident' after watching his friend sparring.

“I remember when I got the yellow belt, I was super happy,” he recalled. “I could wear the yellow belt and go out on the streets and show everyone.”

That marked the beginning of a dominant period that saw him win several national titles and top the Iranian Super League twice.

But all that changed when the taekwondo athlete left his country and sought asylum in Germany.

After moving to Berlin in 2017, he found refuge in a taekwondo club.

He poured his heart into training, but most importantly, Kasra held a growth mindset. He always believed that his talent and determination would help him through this tough period.

“The biggest challenge for me was the new culture, language…[Being] so far from home, no family, friends. Everything was less than zero, no money. And at the competitions, I remember my coach talking to me during the break in between the matches, I could not understand him. I just [said] ‘yeah, okay, I will do, I will do’.”

Kasra Mehdipournejad’s fight to Olympic glory after Tokyo miss

Returning to the competition circuit as a refugee athlete wasn’t easy, but he chose to relish the experience of competing at major events, from the European Games, to the continental and World Championships.

After a standout 2018 season, reaching the finals of five of his six tournaments across Europe, he missed out on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

“I got invited to the Iranian national team several times, but I never competed for my country. Then in 2019 when I got the funding from IOC as a Refugee Athlete Scholarship-holder, my first tournament was the World Championship 2019, in Manchester. I remember it was a very long process,” he said.

“For Tokyo, I couldn't qualify. After that, I wanted to stop my career. But then I decided to follow my dream… I did it very hard. I sacrificed myself for taekwondo in those years.”

Kasra will compete for the IOC Refugee Olympic Team in Paris. It’s been over a month since he got the confirmation, nevertheless it still feels surreal.

“It was like a dream come true. It was very nice,” he told Olympics.com, a smile flickering across his face.

“It was the best moment in my life. I got a lot of positive attention from my parents, my family, especially my wife, she was even happier than me.”

His wife is also a taekwondo champion and won several events in Asia.

Paris 2024: A chance for the Refugee Olympic Team to showcase talent

As he inches closer to his Olympic dream, Kasra is aware of the attention he and his teammates in the IOC Refugee Olympic Team are getting, which makes him realise that the Games truly transcend sport.

“I know when we are going to be at the Olympics, all eyes will be on us and all the people around the world will be supporting us. Because we are a symbol of hope. All this is like a booster. It boosts my motivation to be a good athlete or a good role model for the refugee nation and my community.”

Awareness of the global refugee crisis, with the UNHCR estimating over 100 million people were forcibly displaced by the end of 2023, has stirred a new perspective in the two-time Dutch Open medallist.

Kasra knows he has more than a fight in his hands, and his performance in Paris will help portray the depth and exceptional talent that exists in refugees, despite their vulnerability.

“When you are successful in your new country, they [identify] you from the position of weakness. They don't say, ‘look at this athlete, he's very good or very sharp, super talented’.They say, ‘Oh my God, you are a refugee? You are going to the Olympics?’” he reckoned.

On the mat, he hopes the unpredictability nature of his sport in high level competitions works in his favour, if he can maintain the offensive kicks and counter his opponents’ attacks.

“The good athletes easily win most of the time at the big tournaments, but in the Olympics nothing is sure. So, in Paris, I will do my best. Because when I do my best, I'm sure that the result will come.”

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