Will Paris Olympics yield another weightlifting glory for Iran?
Iranian duo Mirmostafa Javadi and Ali Davoudi will chase a 10th Olympic weightlifting gold for the country when the Paris Games get underway in less than three weeks’ time.
More than seven decades after weightlifter Ja’far Salmasi wrote his name into history books by grabbing a first Olympic medal for Iran – a men’s 60kg bronze in London 1948 – the sport remains the second-most prolific one for the country over the past 29 editions of the event.
Weightlifting has been one of the two sporting events – along with wrestling – to exceed double figures in the all-time Olympic medals table for Iran, yielding nine golds, six silvers, and five bronzes.
Distinguished Mohammad Nasiri won a first weightlifting gold for Iran in Mexico 1968 but the country had to wait until the turn of the century for another Olympic glory, when Hossein Tavakkoli and superheavyweight sensation Hossein Rezazadeh walked away with the ultimate prizes in Sydney 2000.
Rezazadeh repeated his success four years later in Athens, with Behdad Salimi, Kianoush Rostami, Sohrab Moradi, Saeed Mohammadpour, and Navab Nasirshalal – the current head coach of the national team – also among the gold medalists, though the latter two’s triumphs in London 2012 were only confirmed years later due to initial winners’ testing positive for banned substances.
And now, Javadi and Davoudi will be keen on entering the elite list when walking onto the stage in Paris Expo Porte de Versailles on August 9 and 10.
Javadi will head to the French capital as the reigning world 89kg champion, having bagged the clean & jerk and total golds last September in Riyadh to add to his double silvers and a bronze in the 81kg event in 2021.
The 24-year-old Iranian will face stiff competition from Colombian Yeison López – the world snatch record (182kg) holder of the class – and Bulgaria’s Karlos Nasar, who were both absent in the World Championships but shared the top spots between them in April’s IWF World Cup in Phuket.
Nasar enter the 89kg contest as the world C&J record holder with 223kg, while Venezuelan Keydomar Vallenilla – a winner of two bronzes in Riyadh – Italian Antonino Pizzolato and Marin Robu of Moldova will also fancy their chances for an Olympic medal.
Georgian’s territory
Meanwhile, the +102kg class is likely to remain Lasha Talakhadze’s territory in Paris as the Georgian great – the undisputed world superheavyweight champion for the past nine years – will be chasing a third successive Olympic gold in the French capital.
Meanwhile, Iranian Davoudi, the reigning Olympic silver medalist, will have to be up against an even harder test to repeat his Tokyo medal as Bahraini Gor Minasyan, who beat Davoudi to the Asian Games gold last year, and Varazdat Lalayan of Armenia – triple World Cup gold winner – will be eager to stand alongside the Georgian on the Paris podium.
The clean & jerk contest could be Davoudi’s trump card in Paris though the 252kg record in his latest outing in Phuket would hardly guarantee an Olympic medal for the Iranian.
Lalayan registered 253kg for the C&J gold in Thailand, while his 210kg tally was eight kilograms better than the Iranian’s in the snatch event.