Erbil (Iraq) (AFP) – In Iraq, it is in Kurdistan that you have to go and find the big winners of the Arab weightlifting championship: Inès, Israa and Oshin, three sisters in their twenties and multi-medal winners in this sport whose late father gave them transmitted the passion.
” We want to write the history of women’s sport and preserve that of our father “, confides to AFP Inès Muhsin, barely 20 years old and six gold medals around her neck.
In December, Erbil, capital of autonomous Kurdistan in northern Iraq, hosted the championship bringing together 14 Arab countries. Facing heavyweights like Egypt or Saudi Arabia, the Iraqi national team – 15 athletes, including eight Kurds – took first place, winning nine gold medals, one silver and one bronze.
For a decade, Inès and her two sisters have been practicing weightlifting assiduously, trained by their father until his death last year from complications of the coronavirus.
Under the pale light of a modest training room at her club in Erbil, the young woman launched herself by lifting 30 kg.
Arms outstretched to hold the bar above her bun, she squats then straightens up, suddenly dropping the dumbbell which falls with a loud crash on the rubber mat on the floor.
” We are already thinking about international competitions and our qualification for the Paris Olympics in 2024. “, continues Inès, even if the road to the Olympics will be” complicated “.
“Winning Medals”
Her big sister Israa, with three championship gold medals, dedicates her performances to her father.
” When he was young he was an athlete, then he became a coach. It is thanks to him that I arrived at this level “, adds the young woman of 22 years.
” ATBefore his death, he told me : “If I’m not here anymore, I want you to continue and compete, to be famous and win medals”
For the Kurdish athletes, communication with the rest of the national team and its coach is not always easy: they do not speak Arabic.
During the competitions in Erbil, it is Inès’s mother who plays the translators, the elders of Kurdistan being bilingual, unlike the younger generations born in this autonomous region since 1991.
For meetings elsewhere in the country or abroad, it is a member of the management of the Kurdish club of Erbil who takes this role.
But the athletes from Kurdistan are an asset for Iraq.
Because if today the feminine disciplines develop slowly through the largely conservative country, they suffer from a consequent delay after decades marked by conflicts.
Meanwhile, in largely spared Kurdistan, women’s sport was booming. Infrastructure, supervision, subsidies: the region bet very early on on sport and is reaping the benefits, ensure, unanimous, athletes, trainers and Iraqi administrative staff.
“Development of women’s sport”
After the Arab championship, the president of Kurdistan Nechirvan Barzani received the weight lifters from the Erbil club to offer them a bonus as a reward.
Each month, the club pays its athletes $150 and covers all costs related to equipment and participation in competitions.
” We have the support of the club and the government Regional, confirms one of the coaches, Wajed Wadi.
” With the right support and environment, a promising, ambitious athlete can achieve something significant. This is what happened in the Arab championship : our athletes attracted all eyes “, he adds.
Elsewhere in the country, the teams must get their hands dirty, despite the allocations from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, which are more symbolic than anything else, assure the actors of Iraqi sport.
Jazair al-Sahlani, adviser to the Iraqi Olympic Committee, highlights a certain ” climate of freedom » benefiting young athletes in Kurdistan, as well as « the development of sports infrastructure that has contributed to the development of women’s sport “.
Among the athletes of the Erbil club, the sisters Imane and Daria Mohamed, six silver medals and four bronze won at the Arab championship, also inherited their father’s passion.
The latter comes to attend training to encourage them. The attentive look, he comments on a movement, helps to increase the load of the dumbbells. Sometimes, as a precaution, he stands behind his daughters, his fingers brushing the bar, ready to help them.