India, Sept. 30 -- When Fariba Hashimi's father first saw her attempting to ride a bicycle, his immediate fear for her was not injury from a fall. It was what might happen to her if somebody else got a whiff of it in the orthodox Afghan society.

But the stoic father decided her dreams were bigger than his fears and last week, she became the first Afghan woman to medal in an Asian Games cycling event by clinching the road race silver in Aichi-Nagoya. It also made Hashimi her country's first female Asian Games medallist since 2002.

For Hashimi, the medal around her neck was not merely a reward for racing 2 hours and 50 minutes on a course. It was a reminder of the stones thrown at her, the men's clothes she wore to train, the fear her fat...