Marjan Kalhor became Iran’s first female to compete at a Winter Olympic Games on Wednesday and said she hoped to inspire others take part in major sporting events.
The 21-year-old, wearing a pink head scarf beneath her safety helmet to comply with Islamic dress code, was 68th and last after the first of two runs of the giant slalom, 21.75 seconds behind leader Elisabeth Goergl of Austria.
Having carried the Iran flag at the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Games, she hopes to inspire other Iranian women to compete for their country.
“All female athletes want to compete at the big competitions, I hope more do so,” she said. “I am very happy to finish the course, because I am the first woman from Iran to compete at a Winter Olympic Games and my mother is watching at home on television.”
“The course was very difficult and I’m very tired, because it’s my first big competition,” she said.
She started skiing at the age of four and decided to take the sport more seriously after winning a national youth games race aged 11.
Having grown up in a family of skiers in Dizin, a popular Iranian ski resort north of Tehran, Kalhor said she was proud to ski for her country on the world stage.
Kalhor said that she was inspired by rower Homa Hosseini who carried the Iran flag at the Beijing Olympics two years ago.
“She spoke to me in Iran and wished me luck,” said Kalhor, who also competed at last year’s World Ski Championships in Val d’Isere where she failed to qualify for the giant slalom and was disqualified from the slalom.
Kalhor’s hero is Austrian skier Kathrin Zettel and the Iranian was delighted to share the Whistler Creekside course with her idol.
The race was to be decided yesterday after mountain fog forced Wednesday’s second run to be postponed.
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