This International Women’s Day, Lebanese-Australian mogul skier Kareema Wakim shares her journey to Petra Taok from injury to competing at 16 in the 2022 Australian Mogul Championships, revealing the grit, setbacks, and triumphs that define her rise in Snow Australia.
في اليوم العالمي للمرأة… حكاية لا تُقاس بالميداليات، بل بالرحلة ذاتها، في حوارٍ بتاء التأنيث مع المتزلجة الأسترالية اللبنانية الناشئة كريما واكيم وبترا طوق الهندي في الملف الصوتي المرفق بالصورة أعلاه.
للاستماع إلى أحدث التقارير الصوتية والبودكاست، اضغطوا على الرابط التالي.
استمعوا لبرنامج "Good Morning Australia" من الاثنين إلى الجمعة من الساعة السادسة إلى التاسعة صباحا بتوقيت الساحل الشرقي لأستراليا عبر الراديو الرقمي وتطبيق SBS Audio المتاح مجاناً على أبل وأندرويد.وعلى القناة 304 التلفزيونية.
spk_0
There's something about us Lebanese, especially Lebanese girls, we've got some grit. Ya, hard work ingrained into us. It's in our blood and
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كريمة واكيم اسم واعد بمشهد التزلج .
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Snow Australia.
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Very proud to be a Lebanese girl.
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عمر سنتين بدأت المغامرة بتاء التأنيث بنت الجرد بقاع كفرا هي التي ولدت بأستراليا كأنه هناك نداء.
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قديم للجبال البيضاء، إنما
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It's going to be
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snowy, sunny, windy, foggy. You're in the snow like it's such a beautiful place.
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رياضية بامتياز، الإنضباط شقفة من الحلم، الفشل شقفة من النجاح، والجب الوعرة بكل بساطة.
spk_0
On the slopes, I lost close friends to me due to cancer that year because of the injury, got diagnosed with conditions, broke my nose. I missed out on training, and then I had to also at the same time finish my schooling year in year 12, and then I got unselected from the team as well.
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اليوم العالمي للمرأة ما رح نحتفي فقط بالإنجازات بل بالرحلة.
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So I felt like everything I knew kind of was starting to fall away from me, but since then I'm trying to rebuild and find my new support system and success through the valley.
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بين جبال لبنان الصلبة وجبال أستراليا تعلمت الرحلة.
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بد عينين ثابتين على ال
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I know you're strong enough. Never ever think your dream can be too big.
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انا بترا طوق الهندي وعلى توقيت الحلم.
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Karima, good morning, Karima. Good
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morning. Nice to talk to you.
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How are you, Karima? I'm
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awesome. We've had a snowy day here in Quebec, so it's
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و.
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الواعر أو الموجوز بدأ رحلتها عام 2022 بعمر 16 سنة، شاركت ببطولة أستراليا للمغوز بعد مواجهة مع الإصابة. من كريمة وكيم وكيف اليوم بها وتعرف عنها.
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19 years old. I live in Melbourne.
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I am half Lebanese, so my father Bassem, he was born in.
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بدأت القصة بهذه الأرض البعيدة مع والدها بسام، كان بوقتها عمره 10 سنوات فقط عندما عائلته تركت بقاع كفرا بشمال لبنان.
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Australia and he came over to Australia just before the age of 10 with his family. They decided to start a new beginning over in Australia, which I've been grateful for. It's given me a lot of opportunity over here and I'm honestly excited to head back to Lebanon. I'm heading there hopefully in June.
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رياضة بدمها، هي التي كبرت مع أم وبي رياضيين بامتياز، جمعتهم رياضة التجديف، فكان الطموح لغة البيت، الطبيعة ملعب الطفولة والرياضة.
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So yeah, and I'm a, I love sport. Our family, it's in our genes.
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My parents were elite paddlers growing up. That's how they met in Australia. Growing up, I did all the sports I can think of. I did diving, athletics, swimming, tennis, and yeah, honestly, as soon as I got on the slopes at Mount Hotham, I just loved skiing. I got into mogul skiing later, and ever since then, 2023, I've been fully committed to the mogul skiing.
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عشئت الرياضة من طفولته بين كرة المضرب، سبيحة، الغطس، ألعاب القوى.
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ودت أن هناك نداء أعمق بكثير، وكان النداء الأبيض على المنحدرات، وبعمر السنتين كانت أول مغامرة على منحدرات ماونتثم وجبال
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It's
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given me a lot of perspective. I feel very grateful and fortunate for the life I get to live. Like I would go.
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Up to the seasons at Hotham to ski and then come back to school in Melbourne in the city and there'd be people, many, many people who haven't even seen snow before, so it's given me a lot of perspective and it makes me feel very grateful for every day I get to ski and it makes me think I just want to make the most out of it and with the opportunities I have, I just want to try the hardest I can and pursue to the highest stage I possibly can.
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التزلج العادي يختلف تماما عن التزلج على المنحدرات الوعرة أو موغو سكين أحد أكثر مجالات التزلج الحر إثارة وحيوية.
spk_0
discipline. There's a lot of different types of skiing you can do. The mogul skiing is the one with the bump, so when you do a competition, you've got
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A short section of moguls, which are the snow bumps, and then you have a jump.
spk_1
المتزلج على مسار شديد الانحدار مليء بالمطبات ويجمع فيه بين السرعة والدقة بالمنعطفات والتقنية مع قفزتين هوائيتين إلزامتين تتطلب مهارة عالية.
spk_0
Then you land the jump, you go into the moguls and the bumps for about 30 more bumps, 30 turns, then another jump at the bottom, and then you land and there's more bumps, and then the finish.
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كريمة التي كبرت مع عائلة رياضية، هل شعرت أن الميدالية هي ضغط، الفوز هو تحدي أم بقية الرياضة، ملعب الحلم ونفس الحرية؟
spk_0
That last phrase you said, like a playground for self discovery, it really has felt like that. I was never, I would think my parents being the highest world class level paddlers that I would.
spk_0
End up in that discipline, but I've actually never even gotten into a boat, so my parents, really, like I think they almost didn't want me to do sport, but yeah, I just loved it and I feel like I can express myself, the best I can during sports.
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أي متى اكتشفت كريمة أن عالم التزلج هو نداء القلب؟
spk_0
Yeah, it's a great question. So I was, uh, like I said before,
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Elite track athlete in 800 and 1500 metres, and then also the diving, springboard and platform. But sometimes when you're doing the same thing over and over again, it gets a little bit repetitive.
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الكريمة التي اختارت لفريق التطوير، سافرت، تدربت، اجتهدت، تحول الحلم بالنسبة لمشروع حياة، ولكن على هذه الجبال الوعرة واجهت إصابات آسيا، تحديات
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Sahae, of course, being exposed to mogul skiing, you've got different conditions. It's going to be snowy, sunny, windy, foggy.
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You're going to so many different locations, you're in the snow, like it's such a beautiful place in the outdoors and I don't know if it was the connection where my dad grew up, it's just in my blood. I love the high altitude and the mountains and nature.
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Coming from. Exactly
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from Bacara in the north. I just, I felt a really big drive towards wanting to be a mogul skier and haven't looked back since.
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بالنسبة لك.
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I've really been recently trying to focus on success in my values and how I come across as a person within myself. I want to
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Be just at peace with happiness, full health. I feel like if you have that, that's great success. If I'm having fun on the slopes, that's great success, and I think if you're in a great headspace and you have a great family and support system around you, you're going to get the success and results with that as long as you just put all your heart and soul into what you're doing, the success and the results will come.
spk_1
Karima, you have faced injuries, health challenges, including fractures and chronic conditions, yet we never fail. We either win or learn. What is failure to you?
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Yes, I think failure is always an opportunity to grow. Like you said, it's, you win or you learn. Failure does not have to be a negative thing at all. I really believe everything can be turned into a positive, and
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Everything can happen for a reason, Maktub, as some say. Like I just think it's, yeah, I don't believe in failure as a negative thing, it's just a way to improve and look at it and reflect for a minute and then move forward.
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وعن اللحظة الأصعب، والتحدي الأصعب بالسن الأصعب بحياتها قبل أن تتخرج من الثانوية العامة، ماذا تقول كريمة؟
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The lowest moment, it would definitely probably be the year of 2024. It was tough. I had a big injury on the slopes. I lost close friends to me due to cancer that year.
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I then, because of the injury, I got diagnosed with conditions, broke my nose.
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I missed out on training and then I had to also at the same time, finish my schooling year in year 12, so there was just a lot going on and then I got um unselected from the team as well, so I felt like everything I knew kind of was starting to fall away from me, but,
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Since then, after a tough 2025 of trying to rebuild and find my new support system and find kind of that success through the values in myself, I've really felt like coming into 2026, I feel great and
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healthy. How many times do we need to reinvent ourselves, Karima?
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I believe as much as you can. I.
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It's your body is ever evolving, your mindset is always evolving, it's, you always have an opportunity to grow and become a better person in whatever way you believe, so I think that's very important.
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اختار كشب بأن تكون بدائرة الأمان، بمكان سهل علي كإمرأة تقول لحالة تقول
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Of course I feel like women at times are perceived as a very soft, almost weak alternate to maybe the next gender, or male, and
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Sometimes we're confined to maybe sport isn't our thing in an area where we can excel or, maybe even in careers, we might not be able to think we can get into the same careers as non-females, but,
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I believe if you have the will and the mindset and the support around you, honestly, there shouldn't be any difference between females and males, and if you want to do it, it definitely, definitely is possible. You might have to try a little bit harder at the moment and.
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Give it your best shot, but it definitely can be possible.
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رياضة الموقع أو التزلج الوعر، هناك الثلج يتحول لاختبار.
spk_0
It takes a lot of strength. We do a lot of work in the gym, um, and especially with us being a little bit shorter, it does mean we have to,
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Have a bit more courage and bravery to really just put our all into it and acrobatically we do flips off the jumps, then lands and we're trying to go as fast as we can through those bumps. So yeah, it's really just the biggest thing is getting strong in the gym as much as you can, trampolining and just being brave and going for it.
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As you continue training internationally and pursuing your dreams.
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How do you know when to push through adversity, Karima, and when to adjust your course in life?
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Yes, I mean, I think that I'll have a feeling in time when I'll want to change what I'm doing, but
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I don't think, like I said, like I am very driven. I come from a very driven family and they support me entirely, and I am so grateful and privileged for that, especially coming from where I am in Melbourne, in the city. I have such a great community around me, so I believe I can just keep pushing to whatever degree I want to and see where that goes and just see where my potential leads me.
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الكريمة التي تحتفي بجذورها اللبنانية، ماذا تقول عن هذه الهوية المزدوجة؟
spk_0
I believe it gives us a special type of work ethic and there's something about us Lebanese, especially Lebanese girls, we've got some grit, we have hard work ingrained into us, it's in our blood and I love our community, I'm very proud to be a Lebanese girl and yeah, I think it's super special and we should really bring it everywhere we go.
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وباليوم العالمي للإمرأة من المرأة يلي طبعت حياتها.
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Definitely my mother,
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Jenny. What would you tell her today?
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Well, that I miss her. I haven't seen her in almost 3 months now, and that she has done a wonderful job bringing me up and I'm super proud to have her as my mother.
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من معسكر التدريب بكباك والذي منه سوف تنطلق إلى سويسرا، ماذا تقول لكل امرأة خائفة أنها تصدق حلمها.
spk_0
That no matter where you are, I will be vouching for you and that you can do this. You can put your mind to it. I know you're strong enough, and just to never ever think your dream can be too big.
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Karima, do you know what does your name mean? Generous, generous indeed. May life be generous to you.
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باليوم العالمي للمرأة حلمك أنت تكتبين. أنا بترا طوق الهندي، شكرا لكرم إصغائكم.
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