BEIJING — For two days, focus on the fighting in Afghanistan stopped when fighting in Beijing began.
Then the cheers began. Finally, people cried over what one of their own had won and not lost. The people had a hero, and he had nothing to do with government, drugs or wars.
Afghanistan won its first Olympic medal here. Rohullah Nikpai, a 21-year-old barber, upset the defending world champion to win a bronze medal in taekwondo late Wednesday. In a country where sport is a luxury few bother with, Afghanistan learned sport can bring joy, even from thousands of miles away.
“This medal is not mine,” Nikpai said Thursday at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium. “It’s for my country. It’s for the Afghani people.”
When he called his family, who watched on their TV back home in the insurgent-heavy province of Maidan-Wardak, they cried. Then president Hamid Karzai called and promised he’d give a house to Nikpai, who’d spent time in a refugee camp in Iran. The Afghan Wireless Communication Company offered a $10,000 prize.
A ceremony in Kabul is planned.
It’s not just that Nikpai won an Olympic medal. It’s that he won it in taekwondo. It’s Afghanistan’s fastest growing sport and, if you think about it, you’ll know why.
“There was the war,” said Ghulam Rabani Rabani, president of the Afghanistan National Taekwondo Federation. “This also is some kind of war.”
Taekwondo insiders saw this coming. Since the Athens Olympics, Afghanistan taekwondo athletes have been making a mark on the international scene. Nikpai finished third in this year’s Asian Championships and teammate Nesar Ahmad Bahave took second in last year’s World Championships.
“We had no facilities,” Rabani said. “No one gave us encouragement. We’re not in a situation like others, but we try hard.”
Sometimes too hard. Bahave lost his two matches Thursday and was inconsolable afterward, weeping openly and hiding his face in a towel crying as he walked past the media. In a country with so little, a medal means so much.
“For him coming from a country with so much turmoil, it has to be very amazing,” said American Mark Lopez, who beat Bahave in the prelims. “It’s great to see him at the Olympics, at this great event.”
Why has taekwondo, a Korean martial art that dates to 2300 B.C., emerged from the rubble of war to gain acceptance? The national team’s gym in Kabul has no showers. They get no money from the government except a little for travel to international events. Life can be scary. Just last week, a team member was driving between Kabul and Kandahar and was shot and killed by the Taliban.
“There are no guarantees,” Rabani said. “When you come out in Kabul, maybe there are explosions, maybe terrorist attacks.”
Rabani, 33, is the new face Afghanistan would like to present to the world. At USTB Gym, he wore an expensive black suit with Afghanistan Olympic tie, mod glasses and a wavy, stylish haircut.
Afghanistan had tried sports before but nothing worked. Before Nikpai, its best Olympic placing was a fifth in wrestling at Tokyo in 1964. And buzkashi, Afghanistan’s national sport, which resembles polo with a headless goat carcass, is not an Olympic sport.
Then in 1972, when Afghanistan was at peace and its mountains and culture made it a tourist destination, an American named Phil Falkingham brought his hobby, taekwondo, to Kabul University. It sat dormant for years until Rabani came along. He’s a former national-caliber taekwondo fighter who saw sport as a respite from war. When the Taliban captured Kabul in 1996, he escaped to Iran for five years.
After he returned, he started his taekwondo federation.
“Many countries come to Afghanistan to bring peace,” Rabani said. “One of the best ways to bring peace is to look after sports.”
The recent international success is helping him grow the sport. Rabani said crowded outdoor taekwondo matches in the provinces will see fans sitting in treetops to watch. It has even become popular with women, who under Taliban rule were among the most oppressed in the world.
“They wear a full (taekwondo) suit,” Rabani said with a smile. “No one can say it’s not a good sport.”
Rabani hopes to have a woman competing in London in 2012. He hopes Karzai gives him a gym by next year. Whatever, Afghanistan taekwondo has already given its country so much.
