Escape three years ago
Despite asylum in Germany: ski racer back in Iran
Updated 12/11/2025 – 12:32 p.mReading time: 1 min.
Three years ago, Atefeh Ahmadi fled Iran for Germany. Now she is returning, although her asylum status is still valid.
Ski racer Atefeh Ahmadi announced on Instagram that she had found her way back to her family with the support of Iranian head of state Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The 24-year-old applied for asylum in Germany almost three years ago. At the end of 2023, she became the first winter sports athlete to be accepted into the Olympic scholarship program for refugee athletes. At the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, she competed under the Iranian flag. The reasons for their return that could affect their refugee status are unclear.
Ahmadi said on Instagram: “Certainly my country, my earth, my home is the safest place in the world for me,” she wrote. “With the support and help of the Supreme Leader, I have returned to the warm circle of my family.” The said supreme leader in Iran means head of state Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei, who is 86 years old, has the final say on all political and strategic matters in the country.
The return of refugees to Iran usually entails political and legal risks. Iranian state media also reported that Ahmadi was now back in Iran.