Kiani faces grueling path to second Olympic medal
Iranian taekwondo star Nahid Kiani has embarked on what she describes as an extremely demanding journey toward a second Olympic medal, with the road to Los Angeles 2028 potentially requiring her to compete in as many as 20 major tournaments over the next year. The 28-year-old has not been short of history-making success throughout her career. She became the first Iranian woman to claim a World Championships gold in 2023, but the pinnacle of her achievements came at the Paris Olympics a year later. Kiani, who suffered a first-round exit against her compatriot and IOC team member Kimia Alizadeh at Tokyo 2020, avenged the setback in the French capital and went all the way to the final, before securing a maiden women’s Olympic silver medal for the country. Now with her sights set on yet another milestone success in Los Angeles, she has already begun her qualification campaign for the next Games. Knocked out in the last 16 at the 2025 World Championships, Kiani bounced back in style at the start of the ongoing international season by capturing gold at the Asian Championships in May, followed by a silver medal at the Korea Open, officially entering the qualification race for Los Angeles.
For Kiani, that means an exceptionally congested schedule, with little room for rest between some of the sport’s biggest competitions.
“I had a good test in South Korea,” Kiani told Varzesh3 during Iran’s joint training camp with the Turkish national team.
“The Korea Open was a very high-level competition. It is the oldest taekwondo tournament in the world and one of the most high-profile events in the sport, and it offered 20 Olympic ranking points. I faced two or three of my main rivals for the Asian Games there, so it was a very good test for me.
“I was satisfied with my performance because, given that I was only relatively prepared, I managed to get a good result. I hope this silver medal and the points I earned will be a good step toward qualifying for the Olympics.”
The Korea Open, however, was only the beginning of an exhausting stretch.
After the training camp in Türkiye, Kiani is due to travel to Lahore for the President’s Cup, which carries 30 Olympic ranking points. She will then head directly to Taiyuan, China, for the Women’s Open Championships, where another 40 points will be available.
That competition will bring together many of the world’s leading athletes and, according to Kiani, could prove even tougher than a world championship because of its open format, which allows major taekwondo nations such as South Korea, China and Russia to enter as many athletes as they wish.
The Iranian will then travel to South Korea for a Grand Prix event before returning home for only two weeks. She will subsequently head to the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in Japan, followed shortly afterward by another Grand Prix in Italy.
“I have two or three very busy months ahead of me,” Kiani said. “I hope I can get the results I want in these competitions and create a good gap between myself and my rivals.”
Among all those events, Kiani regards the Asian Games as particularly important.
“The Asian Games are very important to the Iranian people, and I will give everything I have at these Games because they matter to the public and receive a lot of attention. Our main goal is to make people happy, and what better opportunity is there than winning medals for them?”
For Kiani, however, the ultimate prize remains another Olympic medal.
“If I want to qualify through the rankings as I did for the previous Olympics, the path will definitely be difficult,” she said. “I will have to compete in around 20 tough tournaments over a little more than a year. There are less than two years until the Olympics, and I will do everything I can to first qualify and then win an Olympic medal for the second time.
“I have the highest Olympic medal among Iranian women athletes, and I hope this success continues not only for me but for all Iranian women athletes,” she said.
“Believe me, whenever I see my fellow female athletes succeed, I enjoy it. I hope that at the Los Angeles Games, Iranian women athletes can become Olympic champions for the first time.”
Kiani also expressed gratitude to her family, friends and the Iranian Taekwondo Federation for supporting her through a demanding career.
“This level of being away from home may be difficult for family, friends and those close to me, but I thank them for understanding me,” she said. “The federation has done everything it could, and this camp in Türkiye is a very good development because Türkiye are the world champions.
“I hope this process continues and that one day the Iranian women’s taekwondo team can become world champions.”