From stones to silver: Fariba Hashimi's journey from Afghanistan to Asian Games history

When Fariba Hashimi's father first caught her trying to ride a bicycle, his immediate fear was not that she might fall. He feared what might happen if people in their conservative Afghan society discovered what his daughter was doing.

He eventually chose her dream over that fear.

Last week, five years after leaving Afghanistan following the Taliban's return to power, Hashimi became the first Afghan woman to win a medal in an Asian Games cycling event, claiming silver in the women's road race in Aichi-Nagoya.

The 23-year-old, now based in Italy, completed the race in 2 hours and 50 minutes. But the medal around her neck carried memories of much more than a race — stones and bottles thrown at her, men's clothes worn to conceal her identity, a father who feared for her safety and a homeland she was forced to leave.

“Fariba doesn't want to go alone. Fariba wants to have other Faribas from the country,” Hashimi told PTI in an interview.

She hopes her journey will eventually be followed by other Afghan women.

“I'm really hoping someone can come from inside the country outside, and that will be one of my big dreams in Los Angeles Olympics. Of course, I keep training a lot and I'm doing my best to perform well and to get a qualification for Los Angeles,” she said.

Hashimi's cycling journey began almost by accident.

As a child, she had never ridden a bicycle. She first learnt about a women's cycling race after her sister saw it on social media.

“In the country where I was born, in my culture, I didn't see women cycling. I didn't see women playing football. It's not open to my culture to do those things,” she recalled.

The sisters eventually began riding, but doing so openly was not an option.

Hashimi would sometimes dress in men's clothes and train at night so that people would not recognise her. Even then, the streets could be dangerous.

“Most of the time, I used to have this idea from my father to put on men's clothes to go outside for training during the night. The people cannot recognise me that way,” she said.

“Sometimes when they recognised me, they became really aggressive with me.”

She remembers stones and bottles being thrown at her and people attempting to hit her with cars.

Her father, meanwhile, wrestled with his own fears.

One day, he saw her riding a small children's three-wheeled bicycle at home. Hashimi, frightened by his reaction, ran into another room.

“When I saw my father, I escaped inside the room,” she recalled. “He just looked at my face and he said, 'I'm scared actually. I'm scared of what will happen tomorrow for you'.”

But he did not ask her to abandon cycling.

“He said, 'I don't want to stop what you want to do. You are a person, you got the same dream. If men can do, of course, women can as well'.”

Her father had studied outside Afghanistan and had seen women riding bicycles and participating freely in activities that were difficult for women in his own country. That experience helped him understand what his daughter wanted.

When the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Hashimi said staying became impossible.

“I escaped because I had a dream. I escaped because I know what will happen to me,” she said.

“With the Taliban moved in my country, I escaped my country. I didn't choose. I want to go outside the country for a different life.”

Former world champion Alessandra Cappellotto helped her leave and pursue cycling professionally. Hashimi and her sister eventually represented the refugee team at the Paris Olympics.

The opportunity came at a price.

“It is sad that I can't live in my country,” she said.

Her Asian Games silver therefore became a deeply personal moment for the family she had left behind.

After the race, her father and relatives tried calling her more than 400 times. He finally reached her while she was preparing for the medal ceremony, press conference and anti-doping formalities.

“He was emotional and crying,” Hashimi said.

“He just told me, 'You did a history, not only for you. For the million of women, they have the same dream like you'.”

Her father struggled to speak as the rest of the family cried around him.

For Hashimi, though, the medal represents women beyond her own family.

She wants Afghan women to one day be able to pursue their ambitions without having to escape their homeland.

“I'm really hoping that in the future, at least the women can go to school. Women can have a right to talk, to have a voice and to choose what they can be in the future,” she said.

Life in Italy has given Hashimi a professional cycling career, but it has not changed the country she wants to represent.

“I'm a proud Afghan and I'm from Afghanistan. I want to represent my country in the world,” she said.

“I had a chance to represent as a refugee athlete, but I want to represent my country. I want to represent my country's flag all the time.”

Her ambition for Los Angeles is therefore about more than securing another Olympic appearance. She wants her journey to open a path for women who come after her.

“We will keep pushing together until our next generation is not going to cry for their dream, not getting attacked for their dream, not getting stopped for their dreams. That will be one of my dreams.”