With a ponytail and a headband to tame her black hair, Elnaz Rekabi marched poker-faced towards the wall at the Asian climbing championships in Seoul.
The 33-year-old could have been a competitor from any country. But in more than four decades under the Islamic republic, no Iranian female athlete is known to have attended an international sporting contest without the hijab and returned to tell the tale. Rekabi has become the figurehead for defiant Iranian women whose recent wave of demonstrations against the hijab have evolved into a threat to the ruling theocracy. Their protests — first sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini who had been arrested by morality police for wearing un-Islamic attire — are now entering their fifth week. The resulting crackdown by security forces has claimed the lives of 144 Iranians, according to Amnesty International.
As a result, the reputation of Iran’s top female climber, known by the nickname “spider woman”, is no longer limited to the small community of sport climbers and their fans. Rekabi has made history, although in doing so has risked the regime’s wrath and thrown her ambitions to compete in the 2024 Olympics in France into uncertainty.