Wonder Woman of the Week: Maroua Brahmi
- Oct 27, 2021
- 2 min read
This week's Wonder Woman is an athlete who dominates in her field (you'll understand that pun later) and became one of her nation's top sportswomen. Maroua Brahmi was born in in Tunisia in 1988, and grew up with cerebral palsy- a disorder that causes immobility in parts of the body. Brahmi didn't let that stop her from pursuing participation in sports however. In 2008, Brahmi began preparing for competition as a paralympic athlete in track and field events- specifically shot put and the club throw (the paralympic alternative of the hammer throw). When Brahmi debuted in international competition in 2011, she took the gold medal home at the IPC Athletics World Championships in New Zealand. The following year, Brahmi competed at the 2012 Olympics in the same two events- taking home the gold for women's club throw and the silver for women's shot put.
Following her medal raid at the London Olympics, Maroua Brahmi continued to dominate the international circuit. At the 2013 World Championships, Brahmi broke the record and took home the gold for women's club throw and finished fourth in shot put. Two years later, Brahmi took the gold in both club throw and shot put at the World Championships in Doha. In 2016, Brahmi appeared in her second Olympics where she took home the gold for both of her events and setting new world records in both events- medaling in every event at every Olympics she competed in.
After the Rio Olympics, Brahmi's career begin to wind down. She won the gold in the shot put events at World Championships once more- once in 2017 taking home the silver in club throw the same year before earning the gold once again in club throw in 2019. Brahmi is not just a dominant athlete in her sport, but she is also an athlete in a country where men- like many countries of the world- far outnumber women in sports participation. Representation makes a big difference in getting children to participate in sport, and Brahmi's record breaking career is sure to inspire more young women and girls- especially those with cerebral palsy- to take up sports and perhaps one day represent their country at the Olympics, just like Brahmi.
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