Standing nearly 1.90 meters tall, German taekwondo athlete Luna Fellinger used her long reach to keep Fatemeh Jami at a distance before capturing the Youth Olympic gold medal three hours later, rfi.fr reported on November 10, 2026.
For the young Afghan athlete, carrying her country’s flag and participating in the Youth Olympic Games is already a victory.
That quarterfinal defeat at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar marked the end of the tournament for the Afghan taekwondo athlete, who broke down in tears on the mat at the Iba Mar Diop venue before receiving consolation from her German coach, Markus Kohlöffel.
The sport entered Jami’s life by chance when she followed a cousin to a training session. As she watched from the sidelines, When I went to see him, I could observe,
she recalled, telling herself, Oh, that’s interesting.
A coach noticed her height and potential, encouraging her by telling her, You have talent, you’re tall, you can practice taekwondo.
Her family initially opposed the choice within a misogynistic world where people struggled to imagine a sporting future for a girl. Relatives questioned her ambition, telling her, Very well, you want to do sports, but why taekwondo? You’ll just end up getting married and getting pregnant.
Born in Iran to a family of Afghan refugees, Jami faced administrative hurdles that prevented her from obtaining Iranian citizenship or competing internationally as a refugee athlete.
Daily life brought frequent relocations that made finding stable schooling and training clubs difficult, as she explained that as a refugee, people cannot own their own house or buy one, and changing cities frequently makes it hard to find a school and a taekwondo club.
A shift occurred in 2025 when the International Olympic Committee engaged with the exiled Afghan Olympic Federation, opening a pathway for Jami to compete under the flag of the former Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
Living in Friedrichshafen in southern Germany, Jami joined a training center typically reserved for senior athletes while still a minor. She spoke only Persian upon arrival and had to learn both English and German while maintaining her training schedule under Kohlöffel.
Kohlöffel noted that the situation was not easy for anyone, especially her, but described Jami as a very determined person who occasionally competes with excessive emotion and could benefit from a more strategic approach on the mat.
Following her exit in Dakar, Jami expressed after a training session that it is a dream for her to compete under Afghan colors. She shared a thought for women in Afghanistan who remain deprived of work and sport, stating her desire to serve as a role model to show that despite her problems, she still managed to participate in the Youth Olympic Games.
She pointed to collective advocacy as a path toward regaining rights, expressing belief that if women unite, make themselves heard with a single voice, and fight all together, they will recover their rights.
While the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles represent the next challenge for the 17-year-old young woman, Kohlöffel indicated that the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane, Australia, offer a more realistic sporting horizon for her peak competitive development, rfi.fr noted.
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