Just weeks after making her Olympic debut, Zahra Nemati won a second consecutive recurve women’s gold medal at the Paralympic Games, adding Paralympic gold in Rio to the historic gold she secured in London with a dramatic, 6-4, win over World Archery Para Champion Wu Chunyan in the Sambodromo.
Just weeks after making her Olympic debut, Zahra Nemati won a second consecutive recurve women’s gold medal at the Paralympic Games, adding Paralympic gold in Rio to the historic gold she secured in London with a dramatic, 6-4, win over World Archery Para Champion Wu Chunyan in the Sambodromo.
She was one of just two athletes competing in both Games – but the only one to go home with gold, worldarchery.org wrote.
Nemati shot a perfect 30 in the fifth set of the quarterfinals to see off Elisabetta Mijno – then delivered another 30 when she needed it to level the match in the fourth set of the final against Wu.
“There was just a feeling that I had that I knew I was going to win today,” Nemati said. “That’s why I was very calm and relaxed. I just knew I could do it.”
Nemati’s amazing story, from taekwondo champion to double archery gold medallist, spread much further around the world in 2016, on top of being chosen to carry the flag for Iran in the Olympic opening ceremony. The Brazilian crowd chanted her name whenever she appeared at the Paralympic competition.
Her unwavering message was never to be defined by injury: “My goal is to do my best to tell everybody: it’s not over, they can still fight with the situation and do great things. Don’t let your disability defeat you. Sport is the best means to defeat disability.”