Taekwondo refugee athlete Dina Pouryounes: “I want to be the best version of myself”
From fleeing to the Netherlands to heading to Paris for the Olympic Games, taekwondo has defined the journey of Dina Pouryounes.
Perseverance, moral strength and an unbreakable spirit are values embodied by both the sport and Dina, who began practising taekwondo when she was three years old. It was meant to be, considering both her parents were taekwondo athletes.
As she prepares for Paris 2024, she has no doubt of the role the sport has played.
“Taekwondo is my whole life”, Pouryounes tells Olympics.com, “and there is nothing more important than taekwondo in my life. It has taught me a lot, like to be more disciplined, and I have achieved a lot thanks to it. Taekwondo itself is a motivation, it is a support system and a passion for me.”
For a sport which has given her so much, one which she says is vital for her physical and mental health, Pouryounes has enjoyed a whirlwind taekwondo career so far.
Dina Pouryounes and her rise to the heights of Paris
Pouryounes has been on an astounding sporting trajectory since becoming a refugee in 2015.
A national champion back home, she won her first international medal while still living in an asylum centre, going from strength to strength with each competition appearance and eventually settling in The Hague.
The Iranian-born athlete then wrote sports history by becoming the first refugee athlete to compete at the World Taekwondo Championships in 2017. She followed up by winning back-to-back titles in two of the toughest ranked competitions in the world: the Turkish Open and the Dutch Open.
Backed by the sporting governing body, World Taekwondo, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Pouryounes reached a best world ranking of third in April 2020. By that point, she already had 34 world ranking medals to her name.
The next year, she made her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 in 2021 as part of the IOC Refugee Team and has not looked back since.
“I gained experience from my first Olympic Games,” Pouryounes says, “I noticed my errors and worked on them. I want to be the best version of myself and be proud and happy of what I did in the competition. I am training two, three times a day, trying to get the best result to be able to appreciate all those efforts.”
Now with a wealth of international and Olympic experience, Pouryounes is heading to her second Olympic Games at Paris 2024. She will compete in the women’s -49kg event as the only female taekwondo athlete in the Refugee Olympic Team.
“It is the dream of all athletes to compete at the Olympic Games,” she admits. “I am very happy and proud to be part of the Refugee Olympic Team and to be competing under the IOC flag, I am proud and happy.”
Pouryounes and her mother’s motivation
Both of Pouryounes’ parents were taekwondo athletes back home, and her mother in particular is a source of inspiration.
She came with Pouryounes to The Netherlands almost a decade ago, and this year will make the short trip to Paris to support her daughter at the Olympics.
“My mother is a big motivation for me,” she says, “and she is going to bring me good luck too. The only thing is that gives me hope is to follow and fulfil my dream. And the only person who always encouraged me and inspires my strength is my mother, the one who is always beside me.”
Pouryounes is motivated by many factors, above all her mother. There is the responsibility of representing 100 million refugees around the world, those who are in her former situation and those around her.
The responsibility weighs heavy on her shoulders, but her strength survives it.
“I am motivated by where I came from and where I am going,” Pouryounes. “My coaches and my people’s support give me motivation to do more. I want to be a good representative for the refugees, because it would send a message of what is possible, despite all the problems, being away from family – I haven’t seen mine in 10 years.
“But we are fighting to reach our goals and fulfil our dreams. What is important is to be at the Games and show that we are strong and that we are doing better.”
Fighting in and out of the arena for refugees around the world
The IOC Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) consists of 37 refugees living in 15 different host countries who support their training programmes, all coming together under the Olympic flag and Olympic anthem.
It is a unique opportunity to represent the team in Paris, which will be the third Games for the ROT. Pouryounes will have been at two of them and is one of five returning refugee athletes to compete at both Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.
But for Pouryounes, it is not about creating her own legacy: rather, to be proud of her journey and fly the flag for more than 100 million displaced people.
“We can achieve anything with hard work,” she explains, “so you should try to achieve that goal and at the same time, enjoy what you are doing. When you are fighting for your dreams, for your goals, working hard and getting joy from that, you will get there.”
Olympic taekwondo at Paris 2024 will be held at the Grand Palais in Paris, and Pouryounes’ discipline will be the second contest to get underway on opening day. She will compete in the women’s -49kg, for which qualification begins on 7 August.
Pouryounes says, “I don't want to be under pressure, I want to take things very easy. Despite that, I do want to have a good performance at the Olympics, I want to be proud of what I am doing and what I have already achieved, because what I went through was very difficult. It very important for me to be proud.
“I don't want to prove that I did something for anyone or I left any legacy for anyone. What is important for me is to be proud of what I have done and the fight that I'm fighting for my life.”