“As the first Iranian woman in Winter Olympics history, 21-year-old Marjan Kalhor will head a four-member Iranian team that will be the only one from the Middle East. The three other Iranian athletes, all male, are Poria Saveh Shemshak, Hossein Saveh Shemshak and Seyed Sattar Seyd.
“Kalhor, who comes from a family of avid skiers, has braved the slopes of Dizin, in the Alborz mountain range north of Tehran, since age 4. In a couple of weeks, she will take the international stage competing in the Alpine slalom and giant slalom.
‘One mullah reportedly last year said that women should not ski because the movement of their knees looked “more like dancing than sport.” [But] “Skiing is a sport where you have to be fully dressed. So there is no problem with clothes. I shall observe the Islamic dress code,” said Kalhor in a telephone interview from her family’s home in Dizin.”
