Rohullah Nikpa[3] (Dari: روحالله نیکپا; born June 15, 1987) is a taekwondo practitioner and two-time Olympic bronze medalist from Afghanistan. As of 2024, he is the only Afghan athlete to have won a medal at the Olympics. In 2023, he became the coach of New Zealand’s national taekwondo team.[2]
Career
An ethnic Hazara, Nikpa started his training in Iran, at the age of 10.[4] During the 1990s civil war, his family left the city and lived as refugees in Iran. He became a member of the Afghan Taekwondo team after watching martial arts films. He repatriated to Afghanistan in 2004 and continued his training at the government provided Olympic training facility in Kabul. At the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar Nikpa competed in the flyweight division where he was defeated by eventual silver medalist Nattapong Tewawetchapong of Thailand in the round of 16.
Nikpa competed in the 58 kg category at the 2008 Summer Olympics, defeating two-time world champion Juan Antonio Ramos of Spain to win the bronze medal, making him Afghanistan's first (and as of 2024, only) Olympic medalist in any event. He became a national hero, returning to Afghanistan and getting off the plane to be met with a crowd of thousands. Then-Afghan President Hamid Karzai immediately called to congratulate Nikpa. Karzai also awarded him a house, car, and other luxuries at the government’s expense.[5] "I hope this will send a message of peace to my country after 30 years of war," Nikpa said.[6][7] In the 2012 Summer Olympics, Rohullah entered the 68 kg category, where he was defeated by Iran's Mohammad Bagheri Motamed; he eventually won his bronze medal at the Olympic Games after defeating Martin Stamper of Great Britain.
