Kimia Alizadeh

Kimia Alizadeh Zonouzi is an Iranian-born Bulgarian taekwondo athlete, born in Karaj on 10 July 1998. ^{1 2} Her bronze medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics made her the first Iranian woman to win a medal at a Summer Olympics. ¹

Alizadeh was born in Karaj. Her family are Iranian Azerbaijanis; her father is from Zonuz, near Tabriz, and her mother is from Ardabil. Until after the 2016 Olympics her surname was incorrectly recorded as Zenoorin. ¹

At the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing she won gold, and at the 2015 World Taekwondo Championships she beat the double Olympic champion Jade Jones on her way to bronze; she took silver at the 2017 World Championships. ¹ At Rio 2016 she won bronze in the 57 kg class by defeating Nikita Glasnovic of Sweden. ¹ She was named to the BBC's list of 100 inspiring and influential women for 2019. ¹

At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics she competed for the Refugee Olympic Team, defeating Iran's Nahid Kiani and Jade Jones before missing out on a bronze medal. ¹ She won bronze at the 2022 European Championships while still representing the Refugee Team. ¹ In 2024 she received Bulgarian citizenship, won gold at the European Championships, and at the Paris Olympics became Bulgaria's first-ever Olympic taekwondo athlete, winning bronze. ¹

On 10 January 2020 Alizadeh announced that she was leaving Iran permanently. In her statement she called herself "one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran" and criticised the country's rulers for exploiting her; she also expressed her love for her country and its women, distinguishing them from its rulers. ¹ She moved to Eindhoven in the Netherlands and trained under Mimoun El Boujjoufi before her later move to represent Bulgaria. ¹

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