Six athletes, a team of three women and three men, will participate at the 2024 Paris Olympics representing Afghanistan. The International Olympic Committee has said the gender-balanced team will make a point about equality for the whole world to see, including those in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, where women’s rights have been severely eroded since the group’s 2021 return to power.

Two of the women on the national team are sisters whose prowess as cyclists granted them an escape from their country when the Taliban came back, and now they’re determined to use the Olympic spotlight to give their fellow Afghan women and girls hope.

Humble, hidden beginnings

Fariba and Yulduz Hashimi started riding bikes six years ago, but they had to do it clandestinely on the unpaved, bumpy roads in their home province of Faryab. It’s one of Afghanistan’s most conservative regions, and their community would not accept the idea of girls riding bikes.

The sisters faced opposition even from their own family, whom they say were just worried about their safety in the fiercely male-dominated society.

“People welcomed us on the streets by throwing stones and insulting us, because we appeared in public without a scarf, in short clothes and a helmet,” Fariba told CBS News.

She said a rickshaw driver once intentionally rammed them as they rode their bikes. It took tremendous courage for the sisters to stick with their passion, but they not only kept riding, they advocated for their right to do so, without restrictions. They even took part in a race in their province, using fake names as they didn’t have their family’s blessing at the time, and came in first and second place.

That helped get them noticed by the Afghanistan Cycling Federation, which offered them membership on the national team.

“My family was not happy initially and asked us to stop,” Fariba told CBS News, but they eventually won their parents over and their father drove the sisters to Kabul to register for the team.

Then, in the summer of 2021, disaster struck with the Taliban’s return to power 20 years after they were ousted by the U.S.-led military in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

A “terrifying” escape from the Taliban

The Hashimi sisters, along with four other Afghan cyclists and their immediate families, were able to secure an escape from Afghanistan with the help of former Italian world champion cyclist Alessandra Cappellotto.

Fariba told CBS News it was a the most heart-wrenching decision she’s ever had to make to flee her country, especially as they had to leave other family members behind.

She said the journey to Kabul’s airport just days after the Taliban returned to power was harrowing. There was chaos all around the U.S- held facility, and it took the athletes two days to push their way through the massive crowd that had gathered outside to finally reach the airport’s Abbey Gate.

Even “thinking about going to the airport was terrifying,” Fariba told CBS News. They made it through to safety just five minutes before a massive suicide bomb tore through the crowd at Abbey Gate, Fariba said. That attack, claimed by the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan, killed almost 200 Afghans and 13 U.S. troops.

With Cappellotto’s support, the Hashimis made it to Italy, where they were able to refocus on their cycling dreams. Their commitment paid off, and they were welcomed onto Italy’s prestigious Valcar-Travel & Service racing team.

“At first, beginning a new life in Italy was difficult,” Fariba said. “Everything was new. The people, the environment, and the freedom.”

In 2022, Fariba and Yulduz joined Israeli’s top-class Israel-Premier Tech-Roland team, becoming the first Afghan women to compete at the Women’s WorldTour level of the sport.

The sisters now train with the World Cycling Centre in Switzerland, where they had everything they needed to prepare for the 2024 Paris Games.

Cycling for the women of Afghanistan

At the Paris Olympics, the Hashimi sisters will compete under the tricolored flag of Afghanistan, which is no longer permitted in their own country under the Taliban’s rule.

After their harrowing journey — and more recently their grueling interval training sessions of over 30 hours per week — the Hashimi sisters’ quest to reach the Olympic medal podium is deeply personal. They feel they’re in Paris representing women and girls across their country who’ve been subjected to a new wave of gender-based discrimination, banned from participating in any sports and deprived of their rights to work and education.

“We represent the oppressed women of Afghanistan who are not even allowed to go to school,” Fariba told CBS News. “I will win, and bring a smile to their faces and hope in their hearts, thinking one day they could also fulfil their dreams.”

“The hardship I faced in Afghanistan strengthened me,” she said. “It helped me discover who I’m and believe in my abilities — that I can achieve this dream of getting to the Olympic Games.”  

“I am proud to represent Afghan women, who are demonstrating their ability to accomplish incredible things. Afghan women are excelling in sports, the Olympics, politics, and education, despite facing numerous challenges,” Fariba said. “Their voices deserve to be heard worldwide. The oppression against women and girls in Afghanistan must come to an end.”

The International Olympic Committee has said no officials from the de-facto Taliban regime will be representing Afghanistan at the Paris Games.

Ahmad Mukhtar

Ahmad Mukhtar is a producer for CBS News based in Toronto, Canada. He covers politics, conflict and terrorism, with a focus on news from Canada and his home nation of Afghanistan, which he left following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.