8 things that happened for the first time ever at the 2016 Rio Olympics

#4 First Iranian woman to win a medal at the Olympics

Kimia Alizadeh was the first woman to win a medal for Iran

Iran is a country with a population of close to 78 million but there had never been a woman Olympian from the nation to have won a medal at the Games. The feat was not possible because of the country’s unwillingness to allow females to play and participate in sports. This difference between the number of men and women athletes who participate at the Olympic Games was clearly visible as only 9 woman athletes were in Rio compared to the 54 males.

However, this imparity did not affect the country’s taekwondo participant Kimia Alizadeh. The 18-year-old showed that anything can be possible if women just took up their sports seriously and participated just like the men. She became the first ever woman to win a medal for her nation when she beat Sweden’s Nikita Glasnostic 5-1 in the taekwondo under-57 division.

The historic achievement was also well received by the country’s President, Hassan Rouhani. After Alizadeh’s achievement in Rio, the minister tweeted, “My daughter Kimia, you have triggered the happiness of all the Iranians, and particularly of the women. I wish you eternal joy.”