OR Roya Karimi she is one of the top athletes body building in Europe. And yet just fifteen years ago, she was a 15-year-old mother in the Afghanistana “child bride” who was forced into marriage and lived under oppressive conditions, before she managed to escape and start a new life.
Today, at 30, Afghanistan’s Roya Karimi is one of Europe’s top female body builders and this week she will compete in the World Bodybuilding Championships – which start on Thursday (13.11.2025) in Barcelona. She started playing the sport professionally only two years ago.
Roya escaped from Afghanistan with her mother and young son. He sought asylum in Norway, where studied nursingwhile she also met her new husband.
Bodybuilding helped her free herself from all the limitations that had been imposed on her for years. “Every time I go to the gym, I remember that there was a time in Afghanistan where I wasn’t even allowed to exercise freely,” stated Roya in BBC News Afghan.
Central to her life story is her struggle against restrictive traditional rules and her attempt to rebuild her identity and inspire the women of her country, who continue to live under strict restrictions.
Some of them already existed when Roya lived in Afghanistan, since these are deep-rooted social norms. However, the situation worsened after 2021, when the Taliban returned to power.
Today, women in Afghanistan are prohibited from attending school after the age of 12, from working in most professional fields, from traveling long distances without a male escort. Even raising their voice in a public space can have negative consequences for them, in the suffocatingly oppressive environment where they live.
“I was lucky to escape, yet many women are still denied basic human rights, such as education. It’s really tragic,” says Roya.
The fight for a different future
Her decision to flee Afghanistan in 2011, leaving her then-husband behind, hid many risks. As she admits, it’s a period she doesn’t like to remember and doesn’t want to talk about.
In Norway, Roya found herself in a completely different environment. He had to adapt to a more liberal culture, find a job and learn the language. The first few years were difficult, but her efforts eventually paid off. Roya studied nursing and worked in a hospital in Oslo.
Her introduction to bodybuilding was the next defining turning point in her life.
Her presence at gyms was not only about physical exercise. It was also a way to rebuild her confidence and redefine her identity.
There she also met him her second husband, also Afghan Kamal Jalaluddin. Kamal had a long career in bodybuilding and supported Roya from the very beginning.
“His support gave me the courage to follow a competitive and at the same time “forbidden” path. I believe that when a man truly stands by a woman, great things can happen.” she says herself.
The insults and threats to her life
18 months ago, Roya decided to give up her career in nursing and take up bodybuilding professionally.
However, her new path did not come without difficulties. The bikinis, slicked-back hair and heavy make-up on stage are light years away from the social norms – and now the laws – that dictate how women in Afghanistan should dress and behave. As a result, her social media accounts were soon flooded with insults, threats of violence and death.
Roya, however, rejects these comments. “People only see my looks and my bikini. But behind this image lie years of pain, effort and perseverance. These successes did not come easily,” he says.
Despite the attacks she receives online, social media is an extremely useful tool for Roya. They enable her to communicate with women still in Afghanistan, talking to them about the importance of physical health, self-confidence and the need to rebuild their personal identity.