Farzad Mansouri
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Afghan |
| Born | 19 March 2002 Parwan |
| Height | 196 cm (6 ft 5 in) |
| Weight | 80 kg (176 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Country |  Afghanistan Refugee Olympic Team |
| Sport | Taekwondo |
Farzad Mansouri (born 19 March 2002) is an Afghan taekwondo practitioner. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Mansouri and Kamia Yousufi carried Afghanistan's flag at the Opening Ceremony.[1]
Early life
[edit]Mansouri was born in Parwan, Afghanistan on 19 March 2002.[1]
Career
[edit]Farzad Mansouri won a silver medal at the 2019 Asian Junior Taekwondo Championships in Amman.[2][1] In 2021, Mansouri won a bronze medal in the 74 kg weight category at the 2021 Beirut Open Taekwondo Tournament.[3][4]
Mansouri competed at the 2020 Olympics in the men's +80 kg event.[5][6] He received a scholarship from the IOC as part of its Olympic Solidarity programme.[7]
In March 2025, he won a gold medal at the English Open Taekwondo under the refugee flag in Manchester. In the final, he beat a Puerto Rican rival, to clinch the title.[8]
Fleeing Kabul
[edit]After the Fall of Kabul in 2021, he left the city.[9] After he was the flag bearer at the 2020 Olympics, one of his brothers in London warned him not to go back to Afghanistan. But he went back and within two week's time things became worse. He scrambled at the Afghanistan's Kabul airport and got into an evacuation flight to flee after the Taliban takeover. Along with the five members of his family (his father, mother, brother, sister and a niece), he fled and later lived in a refugee camp for five months before he went to UK alone.[10] A day after he arrived at the refugee camp in United Arab Emirates, 170 civilians and 13 US soldiers were killed at Kabul airport. Among them was his friend and taekwondo team-mate Mohammed Jan Sultani, who also died in the suicide bomb attack at Kabul.[10]
Mansouri eventually settled in the United Kingdom, training with GB Taekwondo, where he was selected to be part of the Refugee Olympic Team for the 2024 Summer Olympics.[11]
See also
[edit]- Afghanistan at the 2020 Summer Olympics
- List of flag bearers for Afghanistan at the Olympics
- Refugee Olympic Team at the 2024 Summer Olympics
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Farzad MANSOURI - Biography". The Olympics. 2024. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
- ^ "TaekwondoData". TaekwondoData. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
- ^ MENAFN. "Afghans Scoop 2 Bronze Medals in Beirut Taekwondo Contest". menafn.com. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
- ^ "Taekwondo: Afghans Win 2 Bronze Medals in Beirut Competition". TOLOnews. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
- ^ Faizi, Benafsha (5 January 2021). "Candidate Athletes – Olympic New Site". Retrieved 24 June 2021.
- ^ Mora, Esteban (24 June 2021). "Exclusive: Wild cards for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games". mastkd.com. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
- ^ "Taekwondo - MANSOURI Farzad". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original on 11 August 2021. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
- ^ Rahmati, Fidel (23 March 2025). "Farzad Mansouri shines at English open Taekwondo, wins Gold under Refugee flag". Khaama Press. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
- ^ "Afghanistan's Olympic flag-bearer tells of escape from Kabul". The National. 25 August 2021.
- ^ a b "Olympic refugee team: Farzad Mansouri on his Kabul-Britain journey". BBC Sport. 19 June 2024. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
- ^ "FARZAD MANSOURI SELECTED FOR THE REFUGEE TEAM AT THE PARIS OLYMPIC GAMES". GB Taekwondo. Retrieved 15 June 2024.
External links
[edit]
- 2002 births
- Living people
- Afghan male taekwondo practitioners
- Taekwondo practitioners at the 2020 Summer Olympics
- Olympic taekwondo practitioners for Afghanistan
- Afghan expatriate sportspeople in England
- People from Parwan Province
- Refugees in the United Kingdom
- Refugee Olympic Team at the 2024 Summer Olympics
- Sportspeople of Afghan descent
- Afghan emigrants to England
- Taekwondo practitioners at the 2024 Summer Olympics
- 21st-century Afghan sportsmen