These Iranian athletes are sharing such a powerful message for International Women’s Day

Sadaf Khadem is a warrior and has always fought for her dreams. In 2019, she made history as the first Iranian woman to compete in an official amateur boxing match in the seaside city of Royan, France, against her French counterpart Anne Chauvin. 

She won that fight – a match that she couldn’t have a chance to experience back in her home country, as female boxing is banned under the current regime in Iran. Through her hard work, tenacity, and a friend (a fellow Iranian-born boxer in France), Khadem secured a visa for her fight with Chauvin – she never came to France to seek asylum. 

However, in the aftermath of her highly publicised win, she was told of security threats against her back in Iran. It was then that the young fighter decided to stay in her now new home — taking on a job in a farm to make ends meet, studying day in and day out, and pursuing a degree, all the while continuing her sport against the backdrop of uncertainty, distance from her family, and life in a foreign country. 

Today, she considers Royan home and doesn’t want to compete under the IOC flag for the refugee team. April will be four years since Khadem’s departure from Iran – where after much time in amateur boxing, she has decided to start professional boxing –with her first match being on April 22nd. 

While her growth in the past few years reflects Khadem’s undeniable willpower, so much of that journey took place against a backdrop of severe hardship for the young woman. In 2021, for the first time after Covid, Khadem saw her mother in Turkey. Little did she know that just weeks after, her mother will die in Tehran over complications caused by the Coronavirus. That tragedy was followed by her father’s illness — prompting the young boxer to want to leave her life in Royan and move to one of Iran’s neighbouring countries in order to be closer to her father. But once again, armed with her iron strength and determination, Khadem decided to stay in France in pursuit of the dreams she sacrificed so much for in the past—all the while promising herself never to forget her loved ones and her country of birth. So much that beyond boxing, working at a company as well as a gym, and also studying toward her degree, Khadem has recently — with the help of her sister in Iran — launched her own clothing brand Savanka in honour of the Iranian culture and art, and in an effort to create job opportunities for female artisans back in Iran. 

What does women, life, freedom mean to you?

“You know for the longest time I had the highest respect for “women”, then lived a life where I got to meet so many incredible men who supported me in the toughest moments. So today, I believe in the power of humanity and harmony and the need of these two elements in every society.”

The Iran Federation of Sport Association did not respond to GLAMOUR’s request for a comment.