Olympic Mystery: What Happened to Afghanistan's Mehboba Ahdyar?

She is 19 years old. A YouTube video that brands her "Afghanistan's fastest female runner" opens with a shot of her in a dark blue and white striped jump suit, and head-scarf, running against a drab wintery backdrop, in her modest home, filling a container with tea, stretching with teammates on an overlook above Kabul or getting ready for a workout in the city stadium. In one case, a man gazes at her, either wondering what she could possibly be doing--Afghanistan still being an overwhelmingly male redoubt--or in familiar recognition.

She is Mehboba Ahdyar, and until middle of last month she was training to compete in the 1,500 and 3,000 meters events in the Beijing Olympics, which begin on Friday. She'd gone to Italy for extra conditioning.

Around July 4, she ran away from her training camp and Afghanistan's four-member Olympic delegation, now down to three.

Sayed Mahmoud Zia Dashti, deputy chairman of the Afghan Olympic body, claimed that Ahdyar had injured her leg "and that she has will not participate in the Beijing Olympics and that her family in Italy is taking care of her." But the Associated Press also reported that "There had been fears that Ahdyar's disappearance could be linked to death threats from Muslim extremists in Afghanistan opposed to women running in the Olympics. Afghanistan was banned from the 2000 Sydney Olympics because the Taliban regime in power at the time barred women from taking part in the games."

Der Spiegel, the German newsweekly, has since reported that Ahdyar "told her parents she is too scared of reprisals and plans to seek asylum in Europe." The German coach of the Afghan women's soccer team, Klaus Stärk, told the publication that "he had to train his players on a small pitch at a US army base in Kabul because it would be too dangerous for them to play anywhere else. He even brought the female players to his native Stuttgart to give them the chance to play on regulation-sized fields."