Masomah Ali Zada (born on 11 March 1996) is a

road cyclist Road cycling is the most widespread form of cycling in which cyclists ride on paved roadways. It includes Recreational cycling, recreational, Road bicycle racing, racing, Bicycle commuting, commuting, and utility cycling. As users of the road, ...

, born in Afghanistan, who qualified for, and took part in, the

2020 Olympic Games The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

as part of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC)

Refugee Olympic Team The Refugee Olympic Team is a group made up of independent Olympic participants who are refugees. In March 2016, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach announced the creation of the Refugee Olympic Athletes Team, as a s ...

. Born in Afghanistan, Ali Zada spent her early years in Iran, before returning to Afghanistan. Masomah learnt to ride in whilst living in

Ghazni Province Ghazni (Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in southeastern Afghanistan. The province contains 19 districts, encompassing over a thousand villages and roughly 1.3 million people, making it the 5th most populous province. The ...

at the age of 9. Upon moving to Kabul in 2012 she found herself subject to physical and verbal harassment whilst cycling. Masomah and her family (her parents, three brothers and sister) fled Afghanistan in 2016 due to threats from the Taliban, and claimed asylum in France under a humanitarian visa. Currently studying civil engineering at the

University of Lille The University of Lille (french: Université de Lille, abbreviated as ULille, UDL or univ-lille) is a French public research university based in Lille, Hauts-de-France. It has its origins in the University of Douai (1559), and resulted from the m ...

, Masomah received an

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

Refugee Athlete Scholarship in 2019 and took part in the women’s individual time trial at Tokyo 2020 Olympics, finishing 25th of 25. In 2022 Ali Zada became a member of the Athletics' Commission of the

- the first refugee athlete on any IOC commission.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ali Zada, Masomah 1996 births Living people Refugee Olympic Team at the 2020 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Afghan refugees 21st-century Afghan women 21st-century Afghan people International Olympic Committee members