Shirin Nobahari: Strong in the face of resistance
-
Self-made bodybuilder: 30-year-old Shirin Nobahari poses in front of a brightly coloured wall in a Tehran fitness studio. According to media reports, the Iranian was already interested in women's bodybuilding at the age of 14 – even though the sport was not officially recognised in her home country at the time. She initially began training with the help of videos and magazines -
Teach me to be strong: Iranian bodybuilder Shirin Nobahari is now one of the strongest women in the country and Iran's first officially recognised female bodybuilder. She passes on her knowledge about muscle building – and also trains other athletes in this still rather unusual sport -
Mirroring society: it wasn't just getting started that was difficult for Shirin Nobahari. At the beginning women were forbidden to train at all in fitness studios. Back at the turn of the century, female athletes were forced to build up their muscles in secret – often without trainers -
Where to pull your weight? Although Iranian fitness studios opened their premises to women several years ago, the latter were often not permitted to take part in regular training sessions. Female bodybuilders were often only allowed to attend when men were not present: either very early in the morning or during the midday heat -
Lonely at the top: Shirin Nobahari was not to be put off. Yet it wasn't just the training that proved taxing: she experienced cyber-bullying for the photos she posted on Instagram, leading her to close her account for several months -
Don't pose: in everyday clothes nobody seems to notice Shirin Nobahari. Yet the 30-year-old got has got into a lot of trouble for her bodybuilding photos, even though, unlike other athletes, she was spared prison. Despite all this, she wants to stay in Iran and dreams of the day when she can live her athletic dreams