Another brave young woman athlete has risked everything in order to show support for protesters as she accepted top international sporting honours.

Roller skater Niloufar Mardani, 29, did not wear a hijab while accepting her award for first place on the podium at the women’s skating marathon in Istanbul over the weekend.

Images after her win show her smiling happily as she waves a trophy with her head covered only by a pair of mirrored sunglasses and her long hair hanging around her shoulders.

And a podium video shows her climbing onto the winner’s spot with her hijab clearly missing.

Her move was seen widely as support for protestors back in Iran whose nationwide anti-hijab demonstrations have rattled the country’s strict Islamic regime.

It was condemned, however, by Iranian sporting officials who apparently forced her into a climbdown when she returned.

Niloudar filmed a video where she apologised for “not wearing the outfit approved by the ministry.”

The video – apparently filmed in a hotel restaurant – shows the skater wearing a scarf around her neck and a tweed trucker’s cap, but with no sign of a hijab.

In a monotone that sounds as if she is reading from a script, she claims her headscarf had simply fallen off.

She says: “I took off my skate hat and did not notice my head cover falling off.

“I deleted my post to avoid foreign media from abusing my photo and Instagram post and to avoid them from undermining my years of effort for the Iranian national team.

“I do not want problems with the continuation of my sporting activities and by the way my apologies to my fellow athletes in the same branch for the bad news and these tenions.”

Officials moved swiftly to apparently sack her from the team and declare her victory had happened at an unauthorised event.

Iranian sportswomen are obliged to compete with headscarves, even during events held abroad.

In a statement, the ministry continued: “Mardani took part in a skating competition in Turkey without authorisation.

“She was not wearing the outfit approved by the ministry and she has not been a member of the national team since last month.”

Niloufar had been a member of the national team for nearly a decade before her fall from grace.

The protests in which athletes from Iran have been sacrificing their careers to put the focus on protests back home have been growing in number.

The country has been gripped by unrest where mostly young people take to the streets initially over the death of Mahsa Amini who died after being arrested for not properly wearing the hijab.

Niloudar’s apparent protest follows from criticism of climber Elnaz Rekabi who was reprimanded for failing to wear a headscarf at an event in South Korea last month.

The entire Iranian water polo team declined to join in singing the national anthem in the first match of the “Asian championship”.

Iranian football star Saeed Piramoon showed solidarity with protestors by imitating cutting his hair during the final of the Intercontinental Beach Soccer Cup in Dubai.

There have been numerous other sports people also sanctioned.

Iran’s Skating Federation coach was arrested by security forces after footage emerged of her carrying a ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ protest placard.

The footage -which surfaced on social media – showed Mahsa Yazdani, from Iran’s Talesh county, demonstrating in Talesh on 26th October.

Her placard bears the slogan ‘Zen, Zendegl, Azadi’ – for ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ with her hair apparently uncovered.

Even athletes abroad are facing victimisation.

Iranian bodybuilder and fitness trainer Aylin Rauf, 26, who took part in a body beauty contest has been given death threats by phone and had to break off contact with her family for fear they would be persecuted.

And in the country, some of these athletes have been joining in the protests, including two Iranian bodybuilders one of whom was shot and then arrested without being hospitalised, and the second who was shot and killed.

The bodybuilder who died, Erfan Nazari, suffered such horrific head injuries it was not possible to physically identify him.

Local media reported that he had been snatched after taking part in anti-government protests in the capital Tehran several days ago and his family have been told to come and collect his body by police.

It was claimed that he had been tortured before being shot in the head.

His death follows the arrest of Kurdish bodybuilder Reza Olfati who was reportedly arrested in the western Kermanshah province when dozens of security agents raided the house where he was visiting a friend on 30th October.