Lacking other facilities, the athletes in Kabul train in the Olympic Stadium, infamous for having being used for public executions during the Taliban regime. In the structure where adulteresses were stoned to death and opponents of the regime shot, athletes from different events now take turns to share the few available spaces. Football features amongst the various sports, women's too, but, as a kickboxing trainer points out, “it's not as popular as in Europe: we Afghans prefer events which foresee a physical confrontation”. And even the women fight: recently, the Afghan Olympic committee has started to train a dozen young women, hoping to transform them into professional boxers.
