:00:54. > :01:04.Syria. Now it is time for World Olympic Dreams. Welcome to World
:01:04. > :01:24.
:01:25. > :01:33.Olympic Dreams from Afghanistan. The The Incredibles Tory of a
:01:33. > :01:43.double amputee and the sport which saved his life. I will meet the
:01:43. > :01:48.
:01:48. > :01:54.real strong men of Kabul. Plus, the athletes risking their lives for
:01:54. > :02:04.sport. The Afghan women's football team who play on in the face of
:02:04. > :02:15.
:02:15. > :02:25.death threats. These athletes want to change how this country is seen
:02:25. > :02:41.
:02:41. > :02:46.for over. Forever. For as long as I can remember the very word
:02:46. > :02:52.Afghanistan has conjured up images of conflict and war fare. I have
:02:52. > :03:02.been keen to come to Kabul to see for myself is somewhere amongst all
:03:02. > :03:04.
:03:04. > :03:10.this they may be some support. The obvious place to start is with the
:03:10. > :03:20.man who has almost single-handedly transformed the idea of the Afghan
:03:20. > :03:24.
:03:24. > :03:31.athlete. This type wonder fighter it is beyond compare. His bronze
:03:31. > :03:40.was a moment of NASA nor celebration, the like of which
:03:40. > :03:48.Afghanistan has all too few of. -- national celebration. I am on my
:03:48. > :03:54.way to meeting with my guide, a journalist and broadcaster. How big
:03:54. > :04:00.a star is he? We do not have many champions of the last three decades
:04:00. > :04:10.because of the war. There is so much publicity on television about
:04:10. > :04:11.
:04:11. > :04:15.him. Publicity for telecommunications companies.
:04:15. > :04:24.Everybody knows about him because he has been on the television so
:04:24. > :04:33.much. It has become a cliche when Olympics athletes say that winning
:04:33. > :04:39.a medal changes their life. But for him, it was true. He had a new car
:04:39. > :04:46.and this fantastic apartment, from the President of Afghanistan. His
:04:46. > :04:49.quality of life was transformed from Beijing, but for him and the
:04:49. > :04:59.medals are were so much more than the personal wealth they have
:04:59. > :05:27.
:05:27. > :05:32.brought him. On winning medals is becoming a habit for him. Last here
:05:32. > :05:42.he consolidated his position with another bronze medal, proving his
:05:42. > :05:49.
:05:49. > :05:57.first was not just a stroke of luck. Need for years on from Beijing, he
:05:57. > :06:03.still uses this team, will he started out in the outskirts of
:06:03. > :06:13.Kabul. A domestic house which has been converted. It is not even the
:06:13. > :06:13.
:06:13. > :06:18.correct with for a proper tight one day match. He will fight plenty of
:06:18. > :06:22.athletes in London with better training facilities than these. But
:06:22. > :06:32.from what I saw his competitors would be foolish to underestimate
:06:32. > :06:41.
:06:41. > :06:47.the man from Kabul. -- tae kwon do. From the moment his sport leaves
:06:47. > :06:53.the floor, you cannot see it. An Olympic medal is always a turning
:06:53. > :06:58.point for any athlete - the moment when years of hard work in private
:06:58. > :07:08.in places like these become a matter of mass private and public
:07:08. > :07:08.
:07:08. > :07:17.celebration. That is more true of this athlete than many. For him,
:07:17. > :07:22.the private and public are the same thing. He believes that if he can
:07:22. > :07:32.fight hard enough as an individual, his country might just be the
:07:32. > :07:38.better for it. One of the many remarkable things about Kabul is
:07:38. > :07:43.how normal things here scene. At times you forget there is a war on.
:07:43. > :07:50.Like anywhere else, many Afghans have jobs to do, people to meet,
:07:50. > :07:56.lives to leave. But it equally, this being Afghanistan, there are
:07:56. > :08:00.reminders of the recent past around every corner. Of all the weird
:08:00. > :08:05.sights in Kabul this place is probably the pinnacle. Other windy
:08:05. > :08:12.hilltop in the middle of the city is almost an Olympic-sized swimming
:08:12. > :08:15.full. It is one quarter full and it has a diving platform. It has been
:08:15. > :08:21.he four years and the truth is that the Taliban would bring their
:08:21. > :08:25.victims here, much them onto the board and I they shoot them they're
:08:25. > :08:32.all from the end of the pool and the bodies would fall into that
:08:32. > :08:37.water - hundreds of them apparently. It is pretty grim. On Afghanistan
:08:37. > :08:42.still has a long way to go before swimming pools represent sport,
:08:42. > :08:52.rather than conjuring up dark memories. But there are glimmers of
:08:52. > :08:57.hope as well. Meet the Afghanistan water polo team. The squad, made up
:08:57. > :09:02.of farmers, shopkeepers and soldiers, is the brainchild of a US
:09:02. > :09:12.marine who is hoping they can qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games.
:09:12. > :09:15.
:09:15. > :09:19.It is a tall order, there. This is what they are up against. One of
:09:19. > :09:28.only about a dozen swimming pools in Afghanistan. It is outside, so
:09:28. > :09:34.unusable in winter and the swimmers train here. The water polo players
:09:34. > :09:39.have to find someone else. When I catch up with an there are in an
:09:39. > :09:47.indoor pool as a guest of a local businessman. It is a one-off -
:09:47. > :09:54.organised, we think, because we are filming and it is not going to plan.
:09:54. > :09:58.Era no goals and no water polo ball. Someone has been sent there by one
:09:58. > :10:08.and Hateley will have some sport to watch in a minute. Two. Eventually
:10:08. > :10:10.
:10:10. > :10:16.a ball - albeit a football - turns up and training can get underway.
:10:16. > :10:21.There is no tradition of the court exports in this landlocked country.
:10:21. > :10:25.Three of the team have been killed in the war and the plan for a
:10:25. > :10:35.month's training in America is blocked because of fears that some
:10:35. > :10:54.
:10:54. > :10:57.of the team will defect. You can't help feeling it will be well be on
:10:57. > :11:06.2016 before these players have a hope of holding their own
:11:06. > :11:16.internationally. Even so, the Olympic medal in 2008 is proof
:11:16. > :11:16.
:11:16. > :11:21.enough to these players that it can be done. In Afghanistan, perhaps
:11:21. > :11:27.more than anywhere else in the world, sporting dreams survive
:11:27. > :11:31.against overwhelming odds. The emergence of water polo and other
:11:31. > :11:41.fledgling sports reveals wider truths about the struggle going on
:11:41. > :11:46.
:11:46. > :11:54.in Afghanistan as a cold, something I am keen to know more about. Sport
:11:54. > :12:00.means a lot after the fall of the Taliban. On the two major successes
:12:01. > :12:07.Afghanistan had were the press and sport. They came from nowhere.
:12:07. > :12:12.Cricket came out of the Ashes and then baby came as a phenomenon. On
:12:12. > :12:20.these athletes with very few facilities tried to
:12:20. > :12:24.themselves. Express your identity a different way and introduce a new
:12:24. > :12:30.image for Afghanistan other than the usual one associated with war
:12:30. > :12:40.and drugs. Redefining what it means to be not just an Afghan mac an
:12:40. > :12:49.
:12:49. > :12:59.Afghan athlete is also what is driving 18-year-old Malik Mohammed.
:12:59. > :13:04.
:13:04. > :13:11.I lost my leg in a minefield from Russian minds. It was two bombs.
:13:11. > :13:17.end a row? Yes. On a those two Homs, planted before he was even born,
:13:17. > :13:22.changed his life unimaginably. After injury and hurricane the
:13:22. > :13:26.realisation that he was now part of a kind of underclass. In
:13:27. > :13:33.Afghanistan the disabled are all too often regarded as invisible or
:13:33. > :13:43.even worthless. We have one million disabled and paralysed in
:13:43. > :13:50.Afghanistan. They cannot work at all do anything in Kabul city. This
:13:50. > :13:57.is a big problem between the disabled and the not disabled.
:13:57. > :14:01.Malik was flown to the US for treatment. Several years of
:14:01. > :14:06.American medical care and education changed his life again. He returned
:14:06. > :14:16.to Kabul, not just as a track athlete but also as a swimmer with
:14:16. > :14:21.
:14:21. > :14:26.a sense of self-worth which If I didn't do sport, I would be a
:14:26. > :14:32.simple person, at home and doing nothing except watching TV. Now, I
:14:32. > :14:37.am an athlete, people call me a hero. I am proud of myself. It is
:14:37. > :14:41.amazing what sport can do for people in Afghanistan. In the dates
:14:41. > :14:48.and months after he lost his legs, the chances were he was going to
:14:48. > :14:56.become almost a pariah in Afghan society. -- days. Now, he is a hero
:14:56. > :15:00.for the whole country. This summer in London, he hopes to represent
:15:00. > :15:06.Afghanistan in the 2012 Paralympic Games. He will be banishing some
:15:06. > :15:09.personal demons for sure. But if he can change what it means to have a
:15:09. > :15:18.disability here, then perhaps the biggest impact from his efforts in
:15:18. > :15:25.London will be felt back at home. There are so many sporting stories
:15:25. > :15:32.to be told in Afghanistan. The lead has been lifted here. Afghans are
:15:32. > :15:38.throwing themselves into all kinds of sports. Not all the friends I
:15:38. > :15:43.knew. There is one craze in particular which, like cricket,
:15:43. > :15:48.went on doing the Taliban but is now booming. Tell me about body-
:15:48. > :15:52.building. Why is that such a big sport in Afghanistan? Maybe you are
:15:52. > :15:57.not asking the right person because I do not have muscles. But after
:15:57. > :16:01.the fall of the Taliban, it is one of the favourite sport in
:16:02. > :16:11.Afghanistan. Every Afghan, especially the youngest, go to the
:16:12. > :16:14.
:16:14. > :16:18.June. He is not a new thing. -- -- gym. This has been going on for
:16:18. > :16:25.generations. Even in the Times of the Taliban. You had to cover parts
:16:25. > :16:29.of yourself. But now, you can show your body. And when you go and
:16:29. > :16:36.propose to a girl, one of the criteria is having a good body in
:16:36. > :16:40.Afghanistan. You need to have good muscles to get a good woman.
:16:40. > :16:50.If that is true, then these guys should have no trouble getting a
:16:50. > :16:54.
:16:54. > :17:00.good wife. This is lunchtime in Kabul in one of many weightlifting
:17:00. > :17:04.gins. These bodybuilders have put on a show specifically for us. I
:17:04. > :17:08.have been in plenty in my life but I have never seen anything quite
:17:08. > :17:13.like this. All of these bodybuilders regularly competing
:17:13. > :17:18.contests that take place right across the country. Culminating
:17:18. > :17:24.every year in the Mr Afghanistan competition. Contestants are scored
:17:24. > :17:29.on different parts of the body but knowing how to flex on demand is
:17:29. > :17:36.crucial. Check this out. 20 years of rowing, my legs are about that
:17:36. > :17:44.big. Check out this. Bicep, my fingers do not meet! This man could
:17:44. > :17:48.have been the next Rohullah Nikpai. His first sport was taekwondo.
:17:49. > :17:54.Before too long, body-building became his obsession. It is a
:17:54. > :18:00.passion which climaxed with him being crowned Mr Afghanistan in
:18:00. > :18:10.2009. Now, as a trainer, he is uniquely placed to know what makes
:18:10. > :18:24.
:18:24. > :18:29.Where there are prizes, of course there is cheating. Notably steroids.
:18:29. > :18:32.These bodybuilders all say they rely on weight lifting the loan to
:18:32. > :18:37.build up their muscles. But they know plenty of people here willing
:18:37. > :18:42.to turn to chemicals to gain an advantage. Why is this place called
:18:42. > :18:46.the Bush bizarre? A after the former President of the United
:18:47. > :18:53.States. I was brought to a market where steroids are forced sale.
:18:53. > :18:57.Here you can get everything. Steroids, wait gainer. His the
:18:57. > :19:02.something people are worried about? There is not so much knowledge or
:19:03. > :19:08.publicity about this. I have heard quite a lot of reports. Recently,
:19:08. > :19:13.it said you can die of using too much steroids. That was huge. It
:19:13. > :19:18.was learning for all people. Doping is a very worrying part of the
:19:18. > :19:22.sport. Testing is still only sporadic and, while there remains a
:19:22. > :19:29.real chance of not being caught, plenty of bodybuilders will
:19:29. > :19:33.continue to use. You are never too far from signs of conflict in Kabul.
:19:33. > :19:37.This was the gym where we were just feeling though -- filming those
:19:37. > :19:41.bodybuilders. Next door, that is where the Taliban launched an
:19:41. > :19:48.attack a few months ago. That was on the American embassy which is a
:19:48. > :19:53.few blocks that way. You can cease -- still see the ball -- bullet
:19:53. > :19:57.holes on the top of that building. Kabul is one of the most dangerous
:19:57. > :20:06.cities in the world. Moving around, you encounter checkpoints every few
:20:06. > :20:12.hundred metres. Understandably, they don't like being filled. In
:20:12. > :20:17.Kabul, you are constantly aware how dangerous things can be here. But,
:20:17. > :20:23.equally, life in a high-security world can also become fearing
:20:23. > :20:28.normal. Very quickly. We have been here at 2-3 days and you get used
:20:28. > :20:34.to it. It is worrying how you do. You think, to begin with, it is a
:20:34. > :20:38.complete culture shock. Now, it is normal. Armed guards, a guy comes
:20:38. > :20:43.to the window to see what you are doing and you can then carry on.
:20:43. > :20:47.Even though my main focus in Afghanistan has been sport, you are
:20:47. > :20:56.constantly hit with the evidence of the political side of this
:20:56. > :21:00.country's recent past. This stadium, if you have seen pictures of it,
:21:00. > :21:03.they are unlikely to have been present. People used to bring
:21:03. > :21:08.people here to execute them in front of crowds and even stone
:21:08. > :21:13.women to death out on the pitch. Nowadays, there is progress. There
:21:13. > :21:18.is a lovely new turf pitch and the stadium is the hub of the whole
:21:18. > :21:26.sports complex which aims at improving act -- Afghan team sports.
:21:26. > :21:34.Among them, the Afghanistan women's football team. Women's sport was
:21:34. > :21:40.not just restricted under the Taliban, it was completely banned.
:21:40. > :21:47.The contrast between the present day and just 11 years ago it is at
:21:47. > :21:54.its starkest here. As recently as 2001, any of these women could have
:21:54. > :22:00.been executed for what we are filming their undoing today. --
:22:00. > :22:04.filming then doing. But it is not without controversy. Even now, the
:22:04. > :22:08.role of women in Afghanistan is a battle that is far from settled.
:22:08. > :22:13.Many of the players here have had death threats. Each of the women
:22:13. > :22:23.has their own story of sacrifice to tell for the love of the game that
:22:23. > :22:43.
:22:43. > :22:49.This is where progress in sport is at its most delicate. Women's Sport
:22:49. > :22:57.happens in Afghanistan, and you could say, despite public attitudes,
:22:57. > :23:01.not because of them. But even so, these team-mate remain committed.
:23:01. > :23:11.It is beginning to play internationals overseas and home
:23:11. > :23:35.
:23:35. > :23:38.matches have drawn surprising What happens with the women's
:23:38. > :23:44.football team, more than any of the other athletes I encountered, will
:23:44. > :23:53.be a barometer of the bigger story here in Afghanistan. In five or ten
:23:53. > :24:03.years, this team may well no longer exist. Or it may be the Afghan of
:24:03. > :24:06.
:24:06. > :24:10.women's football team has gone from To round off the trip, you could
:24:10. > :24:14.not get a more Afghan backdrop then the presidential palace that was
:24:14. > :24:18.ruined in the civil war. But you never know with Afghanistan. You
:24:18. > :24:22.could come back in six months and it could be razed to the ground or
:24:22. > :24:27.it could be reinvented as a government building or some sort of
:24:27. > :24:31.luxury hotel. You just don't know. Then I think back to the few days -
:24:31. > :24:37.- last few days, if it has been amazing to get under the skin of
:24:37. > :24:41.the place and witness the truth about Afghan sport. Two amazing
:24:41. > :24:45.athlete, cutting Edge, an inspiration to the whole nation and
:24:45. > :24:49.generations of people coming up behind them and realising that it
:24:49. > :24:54.is possible to go to the Olympics or Paralympics and win medals. And
:24:54. > :24:59.then you think of the more rough and ready reality of Afghan sport,
:24:59. > :25:05.the cricket that goes on in the streets and the towns, and the
:25:05. > :25:10.chaos of the Afghan water polo team. The only sign-off is that they can