Cover news reporter Yan Wenwen Wu Deyu trainee reporter Liu Kexin
When he left his homeland, he knew he would never go back.
When he left his mother, he didn't know it was a goodbye.
On August 18, when the reporter contacted Abdullah Sedic, he was resuming training in the small town of Veereijk near Antwerp, Belgium. As part of the Olympic refugee delegation, Abdullah Sedic, a 24-year-old taekwondo athlete from Afghanistan, made his first Olympic journey at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
In recent days, his identity has become particularly special, as his hometown of Afghanistan has once again become the focus of the world. With the Taliban entering Kabul on August 15, local time, "going home" became a luxury for Sedich.
In the early morning of August 19, listening to Sedic's story through the mobile phone screen, the cover reporter could not help but burst into tears several times.
Taekwondo contains tenacity, willpower, and indomitability. At the age of 7, he began to practice taekwondo, risked his life to chase his dreams, and went into exile in Belgium at the age of 21 until he entered the Olympic arena, and Sedic's 24-year-old life seemed to have gone through the vicissitudes of others.
Now, after crossing the hill, I found that there was no one waiting.
Dreaming of the Olympics because of taekwondo
The situation is becoming increasingly chaotic as heresy
Abdullah Sedic has been exposed to taekwondo since he was 7 years old and has always dreamed of competing in the Olympics.
At first, out of concern for her son's safety, the mother did not support Sedic practicing taekwondo, and this idea faded when Sedic won the first gold medal. As his strength grew, Sedic began to make a name for himself in competitions and became a well-known athlete in Afghanistan.
Like many ordinary young people, he also enjoyed a peaceful and happy daily life. However, as the situation in Afghanistan gradually became chaotic, everything gradually changed.
Taekwondo was seen as a heresy, and gang members in Afghanistan began attacking some of the most famous people in the region, including Sedich as an athlete.
It became increasingly difficult for Sedic to train normally, and he didn't even dare to take to the streets at will, let alone wear taekwondo costumes. Threats, intimidation, followed, training, forced to end.
To live or to die? Instead of sitting still, find another way to survive.
In 2017, Sedic waited for the opportunity. He learned online that there is a taekwondo club in Tweep, Belgium, that provides professional training for refugees. After a psychological struggle, in order to regain his love of taekwondo, Sedic chose to leave his family temporarily and leave Afghanistan temporarily.
He fled to Belgium for 4 months
Separated from the mother
On the night of his family's separation, Sedich could not even remember what his mother had done for him on the night of his family's separation.
"It's an exhausting task, and sometimes I even walk 12 hours a day." Whenever he mentions the nightmarish escape, Sedic says. No planes, no trains, all on foot, and more often than 12 hours a day. With a tenacious will, it took Sedic 4 months to finally reach Belgium.
China's Zhao Shuai's Olympic matchup with Sedic was described as a "near-win". Defending champions, one is the Olympic debut, the gap between the two world rankings is not small, but Sedic is not to be underestimated opponents.
Children without umbrellas must learn to run hard in the rain.
In Antwerp, Belgium, he practiced in the park without a gym; he could not afford sparring, so he could only target anything he could see. On social platforms, he can often be seen training alone outdoors.
Even so, Sedic's taekwondo talent has gradually shown, and he has been able to pass the barriers, winning the silver medal at the Spanish Open in 2019 and the bronze medal at the Dutch Open in 2020. At the 2019 World Championships in Manchester, the team represented the refugee team in the round of 64.
In June 2021, the International Olympic Committee announced the participation of the Refugee Team at the Tokyo Olympics, and Sedic's name was prominently listed.
The Olympic dream has been fulfilled, but it is getting farther and farther away from the motherland.
Since leaving his native Afghanistan in 2017, Sedic has never seen his mother again. Who knows, this is a farewell forever. In 2020, bad news came that my mother died in Afghanistan due to COVID-19. On June 30 of this year, Sedic posted a text on social media remembering his mother: "Your name will always be the hero of my life." ”
Now, it is more difficult for Sedich to return to his homeland, and his brother, sister, brother and many other family members remain in Afghanistan, not knowing whether they will ever see them again.
In the early hours of August 19, Sedic sent a photo of him holding the Afghan flag to reporters: "Although we have left our country, we still love our motherland deeply. ”
The loneliest athlete in the Olympics
Nothing but hard work and dreams
"I don't usually have sparring, I can only train on my own." Sedic said.
Athletes from other countries who participate in the Olympics have sparring, there are training camps, but in the past year, Sedic has had nothing, only a coach. His coach Azadani's salary was paid by Sedic with the IOC's scholarship for refugee athletes: "This scholarship was not easy to come by, so I have been saving it to participate in competitions and pay for training. ”
In addition to the scholarship, Sedich does not have any sponsors, and his monthly living expenses are based on subsidies from the Belgian government to refugees: "Other than that, I don't have any financial resources. In Belgium, if you don't have a work visa, you are not allowed to work, so I can't earn money in the field of sports. ”
After confirming his participation in the Olympics, Sedic was given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend an Olympic training camp in Iran: "A month before the Tokyo Olympics, I participated in the training camp to prepare for the Olympics. There were a lot of good players in the camp, so I practiced with them for a while. I can say that I only have one month to prepare. ”
On July 25, in the taekwondo 68 kg competition, Sedic made his debut against the defending champion, China's Zhao Shuai, and finally Sedic lost to Zhao Shuai by 2 points. Sedic told reporters about his impression of the only competition he participated in: "Zhao Shuai is a very good athlete, a champion player. The game I played against him, the score was tight, and in the final moments, I lost the game 20-22. Actually, I thought he was going to take the gold medal and didn't expect him to lose in the semi-finals. Participating in the Olympic Games is by no means the end of my career, and I will continue to fight again and work harder for the Paris Olympic Games. ”
Conversation with Sedic
Although we have left our own country, we still love our motherland deeply
Cover News: Has your life changed since the Tokyo Olympics?
Sedic: After returning to Belgium, my life has not changed at all from before I participated in the Tokyo Olympics. Maybe there will be a little change in the future, but for now I'm not sure. In Belgium, if you don't have a contract, you can't go to work, so my life is still the same. Maybe after a while, I'll start to get a little better after I start training. Take it one step at a time.
Cover News: The Taliban have now entered Kabul, what do you think of all this?
Sedic: Actually, when I left my home country, I didn't think I'd be able to go back. Now this situation is even more impossible, and I can never go back. It's really tough right now and everyone knows it. Even if I wanted to go back, they wouldn't let me stay there. Everybody knows they won't let me go back.
Cover News: Do you still have family and friends in Afghanistan?
Sedic: Yes, my family is in Afghanistan, my sister lives there, and she went through it all. I still have a lot of friends who are still home.
Cover News: At the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, the male flag bearer of the Afghan delegation, Mansuri Farzad, was also a taekwondo player, did you talk to him?
Sedic: Of course, the two of us haven't met before, but we're both netizens, so we often message each other and leave messages on various social media. The Tokyo Olympics were the first time the two of us had met.
Cover News: I've seen a picture of you holding the Afghan flag, and you're still very patriotic.
Sedic: Although we have left our country, we still love our homeland deeply, and I once sent a message saying that I miss Afghanistan very much. We just can't live there anymore, but that doesn't mean we don't love it.
Cover News: Participating in the Olympic Games should be an indescribable emotion for you, on the one hand, you finally realized the joy of the dream of participating in the Olympic Games, on the other hand, the pain of not being able to represent the motherland.
Sedic: Yes, a lot of people have asked me the question, "What's it like that you can't represent your country in the Olympics," and yes, before I went to Tokyo, I did think, "Why am I not in the Afghan delegation?" "But when I got to Tokyo, my focus was always on the game itself, I didn't think about who I was representing, I thought about how to compare, how to represent myself, how to perform in the game, which is the most important thing for me.
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