By Competing, Afghanistan’s Azimi Is Winner

You had the feeling that Lima Azimi might not be among the fastest women in the first round of the 100 meters Saturday at Stade de France when she arrived at the start line in a gray T-shirt, her bib attached with safety pins, and long blue warm-up pants. The feeling was reinforced when an official had to instruct her how to run out of the blocks.

She was even slower than she looked. She finished the race in 18.37 seconds, which usually wouldn’t merit a mention in the context of track and field’s world championships. Her time was almost eight seconds slower than the world record and more than seven seconds slower than the best time in her heat.

Nor was her event as significant in the sport as the two finals that were contested hours later on the opening day of the meet. Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus, emerging from a drug suspension, won the men’s shotput over runner-up Adam Nelson of the United States and Ethiopians Adere Berhane and Kidane Werknesh finished 1-2 in the women’s 10,000.

But, symbolically, the fact that Azimi was here, running on the same track at the same time as former champion Merlene Ottey and U.S. champion Kelli White, was as important as anything that will occur here during the nine days of competition.

Azimi, 23, is from Afghanistan. No athlete from her country had competed in any international sporting event since the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. More significantly, no woman athlete from her country had ever competed in any major international sporting event.

Recognizing Azimi as the first lady of Afghanistan sports, the International Assn. of Athletic Federations accorded her the honor of wearing bib No. 1.

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With nation rebuilding comes rebuilding of sports programs. Government officials believe that one of the clearest signs they are prepared to reclaim their place among the international community is to display the nation’s flag before the worldwide television audiences and media guaranteed by a prestigious sports festival.

For that reason, Iraqi athletes, assisted by U.S. authorities in the country and the International Olympic Committee, have been rushed into competitions. Iraqi athletes are participating now in the World University Games in South Korea. But the challenge is greater in Afghanistan because it had less tradition in sports than Iraq.

Afghanistan was banned from international sports in 1999 because the oppressive Taliban imposed such restrictive rules regarding conduct and dress that sports were, in effect, prohibited. But even before, previous Muslim regimes interpreted religious laws similarly in regard to women athletes.

With a new government installed last year came new attitudes. Afghanistan was re-admitted to the IOC on June 29, to the IAAF on July 18.

By then, Azimi had already joined the volleyball team at the Kabul university where she is a second-year student in English and literature. When officials of the fledgling track and field federation noticed her speed relative to other players, they entered her in a race involving several women. They told her last week that the reward for her victory was a trip to Paris.

She said that she was concerned she wasn’t prepared. Federation officials told her it didn’t matter as long as she showed the world Afghan women were free to compete.

Her father, who works for the agricultural ministry, was concerned for her safety, so much so that he flew here to see the stadium and the surrounding area. Only then did he allow her to join the two-athlete delegation. Afghanistan has a man entered in the first round of the 100 today.

This is Azimi’s first time outside Afghanistan. Under the Taliban, with women forbidden from working and going to school, she said that she seldom left her house for six years, never alone.

She was so excited about her first airplane experience that she left her running shoes in a taxi en route to the airport in Azerbaijan.

After she explained her predicament upon arrival here, a member of the local organizing committee arranged a trip for her to an athletics apparel store. She paid $78 -- she was reimbursed by her federation -- for her first pair of spikes.

“They didn’t help,” she said.

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“I have never seen a stadium like this,” she said in awe after running in the 80,000-seat Stade de France, which was built for soccer’s 1998 World Cup.

Azimi had been embarrassed by her appearance on the track. That is not because she was wearing so much in a race against women dressed in tight halter tops and bikini bottoms. It was because she was wearing so little.

“I don’t like it, because I’m Muslim,” she said. “This is the first time I’ve been outdoors without something covering my arms and hair like that.”

She dresses conservatively in public at home, wearing a chador over her head and a burqua that covers all but her face.

When she approached her starting block, she handed her chador to her coach.

She wasn’t as embarrassed by her time. It was, after all, the first time she had run an entire 100 meters. There is no 100-meter straightaway in Kabul for women, who are required to train inside a gymnasium so that they won’t be seen in athletic attire by men.

Proving that she had listened well to her federation officials, she said, “It was not important for me to run fast, but it was very important to participate.”

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Randy Harvey can be reached at randy.harvey@latimes.com.