Mehboba Ahdyar (born 1989 in Kabul)[1] is an Afghan athlete.

[2] Her family live in a mud brick house in one of the poorest parts of Kabul.

However, she did not compete[4] because before the Olympics, on June 4, 2008, Ahdyar disappeared from a training facility in Formia,[5] Italy, possibly to seek asylum.

[7] The Afghan embassy in the United States reported that, as she trained for the Olympics, Ahdyar faced "daily taunts from her conservative neighbors, vicious rumors about her character, and even death threats from extremists.

"[8] Ahdyar planned on wearing a hijab during the competition, "I will not take off my scarf in China when I race because it is symbol of Muslim women.