Smiling Soltani proud to represent refugees and realise Olympic dream

Saman Soltani may have come last in her final canoe sprint race at the Paris Games but the refugee athlete still bore a thousand-watt smile despite her Olympics coming to an end at the quarterfinal stage on Wednesday.

The 28-year-old Iranian-born paddler, who lives in Vienna, Austria, said she was delighted with how she performed, having realised her Olympic dream, and hoped she had inspired others.

"This is my big goal, to be able to motivate people to help them," she told Reuters. "Sometimes life is really hard, and you think that it's finished and you cannot go forward, but that's exactly the time that you have to keep going.

"You have to believe in yourself and listen to the people who trust you, who believe in you, and stay positive."

Having started out as an artistic swimmer, Soltani began kayaking in her native Iran in the hope of making the Olympics.

"I won a silver medal in the Asian Championship in 2018 and afterwards I said goodbye to the professional sport - I stopped because there were no chances for me to get to the Olympics, not because I couldn't, because I was the main hope for Iran, but ... they didn't send us, so afterwards, I was really sad, and then I stopped," she said.

Soltani had to seek asylum in Austria in 2022, an event that marked the beginning of her journey to the refugee team at the Paris Games, but did not go into the details.

"Anything that happens to you, you have two choices - either you accept it and try to improve your life, or either let the negative things ... it can break you," she explained.

"So in this case, I decided to build my life again and show myself one more time to myself, and then also try to motivate other people."

That rebuilding began in Vienna.

"I won the Austrian championship, in sprint and in marathon, and the (Austrian canoeing) federation were so supportive, and also the Austrian Olympic Committee.

"They sent my case to the International Canoe Federation and the International Olympic Committee, and then they accepted me for the refugee team," she said.

Her presence and positivity has lit up the canoe sprint venue at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium east of Paris, and Soltani said she had enjoyed being in the Olympic Village.

"I think I've spoken to everyone there at least once," she added grinning.

Soltani said she felt the support from Iranians, even though she is competing for the refugee team in Paris.

"At the end, I'm Iranian, and when I was in Iran I had a good reputation there and still do because I have lots of athletes (looking up to me) and I was a role model for so many women, and also Iranians," she explained.

"So I'm still Iranian and, yeah, they are really proud."