Elnaz Rekabi

Elnaz Rekabi is an Iranian competition climber, born in Zanjan on 20 August 1989; Wikidata gives 20 July 1989, and the two dates are both recorded in her data file. ^{1 2 3} She won bronze in the combined event at the 2021 IFSC Climbing World Championships in Moscow. ¹

Rekabi began climbing in 2001 and won many national titles in Iran. ² At the IFSC Asian Championships she took silver in bouldering in Tehran in 2013, bronze in lead in Lombok in 2014 and bronze in the speed relay in Duyun in 2016, alongside her 2021 World Championships bronze. ¹ In 2022 the BBC named her among its 100 inspiring and influential women. ²

At the 2022 Asian Championships in Seoul, Rekabi finished fourth in the final, in which she appeared without Iran's mandatory headscarf. ¹ The championships took place during the Mahsa Amini protests in Iran, in which resistance to the compulsory hijab was a large element, and her appearance was widely interpreted as an act of support for the protests. ¹ On 18 October she was reported missing; the same day, a post on her Instagram account said her headscarf had fallen off inadvertently, due to bad timing and an unanticipated call to compete, and that she would explain further at a press conference on her return. ¹ BBC Persian reported that her passport and phone had been seized and her return flight moved a day earlier. ¹ She returned to Tehran on 19 October, repeated the explanation to state media, and was received at the airport by cheering crowds. ¹ On 21 October the BBC, citing an informed source, reported that she had been pressured into a forced confession and held under watch before meeting the sports minister; the Iranian authorities said she was at home resting. ¹ In December, reports circulated of the demolition of her brother's house; Iranian media confirmed a demolition but said it had happened before the Seoul competition and was due to a missing construction permit. ¹

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