REFUGEE NEVER GIVES UP ON PATH TO PARIS

Forced to flee Iran, Tiranvalipour achieves taekwondo Olympic dream at 2024 Games

- Kimberly Kwek

Making his Olympic debut at the 2024 Paris Games was a major milestone for taekwondo exponent Hadi Tiranvalipour.

But what made it even more special was the drastically different path that the 26-year-old took to reach the pinnacle of sports.

Forced to leave Iran in 2022, Tiranvalipour fled to Turkey, then Italy, where the former TV presenter worked as a dishwasher and trained at a public park alone before eventually achieving his dream as part of the 37-member Refugee Olympic Team in Paris.

It was a dream that was 20 years in the making after he was inspired by Iranian taekwondo exponent Hadi Saei's gold-medal winning feat at the 2004 Athens Games.

Tiranvalipour said: "It (Paris) was really great and emotional for me. I arrived at my goal after 20 years. To create a champion doesn't just take only one day or one night, you have to never give up.

"It was also really emotional for me when I participated in the Olympics with the Refugee Olympic Team, because this team is different.