After announcing her defection from Iran, Kimia Alizadeh has selected Germany as the country she would like to settle in and ultimately compete for. 

Alizadeh won a bronze medal in taekwondo at the Rio Olympics in 2016 becoming the first Iranian woman to win an Olympic medal. 

The Times of Isreal reports she made the announcement on Friday in a press conference at a taekwondo club in Germany.

She said: “Even if I do not make it to the Olympics, it does not matter because I have made up my mind.”

Alizadeh acknowledged the fact that her decision will be unpopular in Iran: “I am sure that I will be judged by many but I am just 21 years old and can attend world tournaments and future Olympics. However, I will spare no effort to get the best result at this time as well.”

Whether she will be able to compete for Germany at this year's Tokyo games remains to be seen, but Alizadeh said: “If the German government assists me and I can go through this process as fast as possible, I might be able to make it to the Olympics too.”

Even if she can't compete, this isn't her only priority. Alizadeh said she wants “a peaceful life,” and she is happy with her choice: “I have a great feeling to have made a decision for my life that would definitely change my future.”

“I think it is not even clear enough now and. in the years to come, I will understand what a good decision I made.”

Earlier in the month Alizadeh posted on Instagram confirming that she is leaving Iran because of "hypocrisy, lies, injustice and flattery".

"I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran whom they've been playing for years," Alizadeh wrote. "I wore whatever they told me and repeated whatever they ordered. Every sentence they ordered I repeated. None of us matter for them, we are just tools."