Iran's only female Olympic medallist Kimia Alizadeh says she plans to start for Germany in this year's Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Iran's only female Olympic medallist plans to start for Germany at next Olympics
SHOWS: LUENEN ,GERMANY (JANUARY 24, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1.
(SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) IRANIAN OLYMPIC TAEKWONDO BRONZE MEDALLIST, KIMIA ALIZADEH, SAYING: "The reason I chose Germany is because, after I was introduced to you and you helped me in regards to the possibilities that are available here, the most important thing right now is my life.
Especially now that I am married, I want to live a peaceful life.
I think that here alongside doing my professional sport I can achieve the goals I have put for myself like the Olympic medal, like a World medal and many other things." 2.
(SOUNDBITE) (Farsi) IRANIAN OLYMPIC TAEKWONDO BRONZE MEDALLIST, KIMIA ALIZADEH, SAYING: "The Olympics are of course a great platform and every athlete's dream is to win a medal, that's their greatest goal.
But, unfortunately I was preoccupied with other issues and stresses to get here, to choose a good country.
But, I don't know if I will be able to compete for the country in which I have come to in order to get good results.
But, if it won't be possible in this Olympics, then it will be the next one." STORY: Iran's only female Olympic medallist Kimia Alizadeh has said that she plans to start for Germany in this year's Summer Olympics.
The German Taekwondo Union (DTU) said they support her ambitions, but that her status has to be cleared first.
Alizadeh left her homeland in January because she claimed on her social media feed that she had had enough of being used by its authorities as a propaganda tool.
Taekwondo champion Alizadeh, who won a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics, had written on Instagram she was prepared to accept the "hardship of homesickness" because she "didn't want to be part of hypocrisy, lies, injustice and flattery".
She moved to Germany after having trained in the southern Dutch city of Eindhoven.
Alizadeh is the third top Iranian sports person to stop representing the country in recent months.