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RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Iran performed one of the best moments of the Rio Olympics opening ceremony, when archer Zahra Nemati, who is confined to a wheelchair, carried the Iranian flag into the Maracana Stadium on Friday evening.
The 31-year-old Nemati is qualified to compete at both the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2016 Summer Paralympics.
She is the second archer to qualify for both Games in the same year following former Italian archer Paola Fantato in 1996.
It's quite a way for Nemati to make her appearance at her first Olympics.
She had done good in taekwondo with a black belt, but a car accident in 2003 set her on a new sporting path, archery, after leaving her paralyzed.
Nemati was selected to compete for Iran at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, where she won two medals in archery, becoming the first Iranian woman to win a gold medal at either the Olympic or Paralympic Games.
"I had a dream to be in the Olympics as I was doing taekwondo before my accident," she told the media, "Now, this dream came true through archery."
