Three-time Paralympic Champion Zahra Nemati has been named as one of the six newly elected members of the International Paralympic Committee's athletes’ council, due to serve for three years until the next Games in Paris in 2024.
“Athletes with disabilities are capable individuals who laugh in the face of world challenges,” she said to paralympic.org.
“I want to be a loud voice of these strong individuals in the IPC and all around the world.”
Nemati, who won her third consecutive individual gold medal in the recurve women’s event at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, is already known for her activism on the capabilities of women in sport and persons with impairment having spoken at meetings of the United Nations.
She was the first-ever woman from Iran to win a gold medal at either the Olympic or Paralympic Games at London 2012.
Nemati subsequently competed in both events, four years later, at Rio 2016 – and has used the growing platform of her sporting success to campaign for awareness and change in other walks of life.
The International Paralympic Committee’s athletes’ council acts as a liaison between athletes and decision-makers in the Paralympic movement. It comprises three athletes from the Winter Games and six from the Summer Games.
The newest representatives were elected by participants at Tokyo 2020, where a record 55.5% of attendees cast a vote.
