A national champion back home, she won her first international medal while still living in an asylum centre, going from strength to strength with each competition appearance and eventually settling in The Hague, Netherlands.

Pouryounes then wrote sports history by becoming the first refugee athlete to compete at the World Taekwondo Championships in 2017. She followed up by winning back-to-back titles in two of the toughest ranked competitions in the world: the Turkish Open and the Dutch Open. She took part in her first Olympic Games in 2021, but didn't make it far at Tokyo 2020.

"I gained experience from my first Olympic Games. I noticed my errors and worked on them. I want to be the best version of myself and be proud and happy of what I did in the competition. I am training two, three times a day, trying to get the best result to be able to appreciate all those efforts," Pouryounes told Olympics.com.

She says that she is proud and happy to compete under the IOC flag for the second time at the Olympic Games. "It is the dream of all athletes to compete at the Olympic Games. I am very happy and proud to be part of the Refugee Olympic Team."

Pouryounes adds that she  doesn't want to be under pressure in Paris. “I want to take things very easy. Despite that, I do want to have a good performance at the Olympics. I want to be proud of what I am doing and what I have already achieved, because what I went through was very difficult. It is very important for me to be proud.

"I don't want to prove that I did something for anyone or I left any legacy for anyone. What is important for me is to be proud of what I have done and the fight that I'm fighting for my life," concludes the athlete.