The Tunisian Champion of Halterophilia Ghofrane Belkhir disappeared Tuesday evening at Oslo airport, Norway, when she was to join the city of Førde to participate in the world championships (October 2-11, 2025). Clues suggest that she would have chosen to flee voluntarily.
According to the provisional president of the Tunisian Halterophilia Federation, Zied Aydi, the athlete disappeared after landing in Oslo, claiming to want to take a short walk in the airport. She left her passport and her luggage behind her, before disappearing. Despite the attempts to contact, she did not show a sign of life.
The thesis of a voluntary departure
The Tunisian authorities, via the Ministry of Youth and Sports, immediately attached to their Norwegian counterparts. If the hypothesis of an incident had first been envisaged, new elements point to an assumed choice: Belkhir sent a message to his coach to announce his decision to “leave” and apologized to his team.
A rising figure of Tunisian weightlifting, Ghofrane Belkhir has led the national flag high in several African and international competitions. Suspended in 2024, she had made a noticed return in 2025 by winning three gold medals at the African championships in Mauritius. His preparation for the Norway Worlds was deemed excellent.
The Federation claims to continue the steps to try to convince the champion to return to her decision. But his disappearance is likely to reopen the debate on the phenomenon of the flight of athletes, already marked by other cases of voluntary abandonment during competitions abroad.
