Iran's Girl Fighter Goes for Gold

TEHRAN, Iran, March 13, 2008 — -- She is a real Iranian fighter, fierce and focused on taking down an opponent. At 20 years old, tae kwon do champion Sara Khoshjamal is taking her fight to Beijing. This summer she'll travel from her home on the outskirts of Tehran to the heights of the Olympic stage.

"I worked very hard, I practiced very hard and my coach is very great. Now I go for the Olympic games. … I'm very happy," she told ABC News.

Since making the Olympic qualifiers in Vietnam and beating the world's top-ranking woman in her weight class last month, Khoshjamal has become a national celebrity. Keeping with what's required in her conservative Muslim society, Khoshjamal competes wearing a headscarf. In a country with limited options for competitive female athletes, she represents irrepressible talent and ambition.

"Sara is becoming a role model for young girls in Iran," Kiarash Bahri of Iran's Tae Kwon do Federation told ABC News, standing near a larger-than-life poster bearing Khoshjamal's image.

Khoshjamal is the first Iranian woman to earn a spot at the Olympics.

In the past three years other women have competed from the Islamic Republic in Olympic pistol-shooting, but Bahri said they were wild card entries. None of the women finished in the top three, making Khoshjamal Iran's best hope for its first female medalist.

"I'm happy, but I am nervous. It is a very big duty. All of my country is watching me," she said.

"I would love to take a gold medal in Beijing. I know it is important for other girls in Iran, but it's important for me too. I practice very hard, and I hope we can do it. It will make the people of my country happy."

Tae kwon do is increasingly popular among women in Iran, with roughly 120,000 women practicing the martial art. It is one of few sports in which Iran's Islamic leadership allows women to compete on an international level.

They are barred from taking part in most Olympic sports, though they can compete internationally in rowing, riflery and chess.

Though intensely physical, tae kwon do is viewed as being compatible with conservative Muslim dictates.