Kimia Alizadeh

Profile Overview

Kimia Alizadeh Zonouzi (Persian: کیمیا علیزاده زنوزی, romanized: Kīmiyā Alīzādeh Zonūzī, Bulgarian: Кимия Ализаде, romanized: Kimiya Alizade; born 10 July 1998) is an Iranian-born Bulgarian taekwondo athlete, representing Bulgaria. Alizadeh won a bronze medal in the taekwondo 57 kg weight class at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro by defeating Swedish athlete Nikita Glasnović. This made her the first Iranian woman to win a medal at a Summer Olympics. She also won a gold medal in the women's 62-kg class at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games. She beat London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 gold medallist Jade Jones at the 2015 World Championship to win a bronze medal. She also won a silver medal two years later at the 2017 World Taekwondo Championships.
In January 2020, Alizadeh announced that she was leaving Iran permanently for Europe. Explaining her defection, she stated, "I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran who they have been playing with for years." She stated she did not intend to compete for Iran in the 2020 Summer Olympics, and expressed the desire to compete for her place of residence, Germany.
Having been licensed to compete in the Tokyo Olympics, she competed as part of the Refugee Olympic Team. Alizadeh won bronze at the 2022 European Taekwondo Championships while representing the Refugee Team.
In 2024, she received her Bulgarian citizenship before winning gold at the 2024 European Taekwondo Championships and representing Bulgaria at the 2024 Summer Olympics, where she won bronze.