Running: Running for her life

Thursday, July 10, 2008 - 08:47 PM

Mahbooba Ahadgar was a symbol of hope for a nation caught in a cycle of chaos. The young girl in the headscarf and track suit was the only female competitor to come out of Afghanistan for the Beijing Olympics. Then, on Friday July 4, she disappeared without a trace.

The 19-year-old runner went missing from a training facility in Formia, Italy, where she had been since June. Also missing were her luggage and passport.

It now seems unlikely that she intends to participate in the Beijing Games. Italian police are investigating her disappearance but it appears that Ahadgar left on her own.

Ahadgar's mother told CBC News that her daughter has called home, saying she is still in Italy, and does not intend to return to Afghanistan. It is possible that the threats and harassment she has endured have driven her to seek asylum somewhere in Europe.

Trained with the IAAF

She was sponsored by the "Olympic Solidarity Scholarship," paid for by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Ahadgar trained with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) as part of the program that offers opportunities to athletes in poor countries.

"I'm the model for my country, being a woman in a typical Muslim nation,” said recently in an interview given as part of a series by members of the Olympic Solidarity program. “I'm very proud to say that I will be participating in the Olympic Games. By virtue of these opportunities, many women from my country are participating in many sports, and this will help to develop a better managed country."

She comes from a poor district of Kabul, the daughter of a carpenter-father and housewife-mother, and is one of nine children. She told CBC News last spring that her father had briefly been thrown in jail after neighbours called her a prostitute.

"Being a Muslim woman, we are restricted to a certain lifestyle which doesn't [traditionally] allow us to participate actively in sports," Ahadgar said.

Running behind the pack

She moved to track training from road races in 2006. In 2007, she broke the Afghan record in the 800 and 1,500. "Achieving this for both events gave me some 'oomph' to move forward in athletics and to bring some glory to myself and to my country," she said.

Ahadgar was one of only three Afghanis who were expected to compete in Beijing. Her previous running times suggested she might finish more than a minute behind the medal winners in the 800 and 1,500-metre events.

Despite the fact that she is far from being an Olympic favourite, the head of the Afghan Olympic Federation has threatened to throw her family in jail, or worse, if Ahadgar doesn't return.

The runner who once wanted to bring glory to her country is now running for her life.