Paris 2024: Cycling sisters defy Taliban to realise Olympic dream

Speeding down the roads of the Swiss Alps, Fariba Hashimi rises from the saddle of her £15,000 bike and pedals harder to close the gap on her sister, Yildiz, who is just a few metres ahead of her.

These training runs were the latest step in a journey that began with two brothers from rural Afghanistan racing in disguise on borrowed bikes, before being forced to flee when the Taliban took power.

Now they are off to the Paris Olympics, where they will compete under the flag of their home country, despite a Taliban ruling banning women's sport.

In a world where many top athletes take up sports as soon as they can walk, Fariba, 21, and Yildiz, 24, are late adopters of cycling.

They grew up in Faryab, one of Afghanistan's most remote and conservative provinces, where it was rare to see women riding bicycles.

When Fariba was 14 and Yildiz was 17, they saw an advertisement for a local bicycle race and decided to take part.

The problem was two-fold: I didn't have a bike, and I didn't know how to ride one.

One afternoon, the sisters borrowed a neighbor's bicycle, and after a few hours, they felt like they had learned how to ride.

Their next challenge was to keep their families from finding out about what they were doing, as there is a prejudice against women taking part in sport in conservative parts of Afghanistan.

The sisters used false names and hid themselves in baggy clothes, large scarves and sunglasses to avoid being recognised.

On race day, the sisters incredibly came in first and second place.

“It was an amazing feeling,” Fariba said. “I felt like a bird that could fly.”

They continued to compete and win races, until their parents found out when they saw their picture in the local media.

“At first my parents were angry and told me to stop riding my bike,” Fariba says, “but I didn't give up, I continued secretly,” she laughs.

They were not without danger: people tried to run them over with cars and rickshaws, and hurled stones at them as they passed on bicycles.

“People were aggressive. All I wanted was to win the race,” Yildiz said.

And things were about to get even worse.

In 2021, four years after the sisters began riding their bikes, the Taliban took control of the country again, suppressing women's rights, restricting their access to education, restricting transportation, and banning women from participating in sports.

Yildiz and Fariba dreamed of one day competing in the Olympics, but they realized they would have to leave Afghanistan if they wanted to race.

Using their connections in the cycling community, they managed to secure seats on an evacuation flight to Italy for three teammates.

Once in Italy, the women joined a cycling team and received their first proper training.

“In Afghanistan, we had no specialized training,” Yildiz said. “We just got on our bikes and rode.”

But leaving my hometown and family wasn't easy.

“The most important thing for me is to be away from my mother,” Fariba said. “I never thought that cycling would separate me from my brothers and sisters.”

“I've sacrificed a lot.”

The Taliban's occupation of Afghanistan has called into question whether the country will even be able to compete in the Olympics.

National Olympic Committees are supposed to select their Olympic athletes without government interference.

The Taliban's ban on women's sports violates this rule by preventing women from being selected for Afghanistan's team, leading to calls for Afghanistan to be banned from the Olympics, as it was the last time the extremist group was in power.

But the International Olympic Committee wanted to find a way to allow Afghan women to compete in the Olympics.

Behind the scenes discussions have been taking place among representatives of Afghanistan's sports organisations, including some currently living in exile, about forming a special team to represent the country in Paris.

As time passed and Paris 2024 approached, it looked as if no Afghan athletes would take part in the Olympics.

And in June, the International Olympic Committee announced that it had formed a special, gender-equal team to represent Afghanistan at the Paris Olympics, made up of three women and three men, including the two sisters.

“This was a big surprise for both of us,” Fariba said.

“We have always dreamed of participating in the Olympics and now it has come true,” Yildiz added.

“We can show that despite all the rights that have been taken away from us, we can achieve great success. We can represent 20 million Afghan women.”

The IOC has said that no one associated with the Taliban will be allowed to take part in the Paris 2024 Games.

The sisters are based at the World Cycling Centre, an ultra-modern facility in the Swiss town of Aigle, and are preparing for the Olympic road race competition by cycling as part of a development team run and funded by the UCI.

This elite facility is a world away from the dusty Afghanistan roads where Yildiz and Fariba first learned to ride bikes.

But their spirit remains the same.

“We are each other's strength. I support her and she supports me,” Yildiz said.

“Our achievement belongs to Afghanistan,” Fariba added. “It belongs to the women of Afghanistan, and it's because of them that I'm going to the Olympics.”