Nasirshalal to continue as Iran weightlifting coach despite Olympic setback
Navvab Nasirshalal will stay on in his role as the head coach of the Iranian weightlifting national team despite a disappointing campaign at the Paris Olympics earlier in August.
The national governing body of the sport announced the news on Monday, with Hossein Rezazadeh, the head of the federation’s Technical Committee, saying Nasirshalal and his coaching staff will stay in charge of the men’s team until the 2025 World Championships in Førde, Norway.
“His team’s performance and results in the world event will then be assessed for further cooperation,” added the legendary weightlifter, a winner of two Olympic superheavyweight golds in 2000 and 2004.
Represented by Mirmostafa Javadi and Ali Davoudi in Paris, Iran left the Olympic weightlifting event empty-handed for the first time since Beijing 2008.
The result was widely deemed as an absolute failure for Iranian weightlifting, which takes credit for the second highest number of medals for the country – following wrestling – in the 128-year history of the Games with nine golds, six silvers, and five bronzes.
Stepping onto the stage in Paris as the reigning world champion, Javadi registered a best snatch lift of 168kg before a successful 204kg attempt in the clean & jerk saw the Iranian finish fifth in the -89kg class with 372kg – 22 kilograms adrift of Bulgarin gold medalist Karlos Nasar, who set a new C&J and total world record in the process.
A silver winner at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, Davoudi managed 205kg in the snatch event and then failed to go beyond 242kg in clean & jerk, settling for the fourth place in the +102kg table.
Despite being far from his dominant form, Georgian great Lasha Talakhadze did enough to grab a third successive superheavyweight gold with a total 470kg tally, with Armenian Varazdat Lalayan (467kg) and Bahrain’s Gor Minasyan (461kg) taking the silver and bronze medals respectively.
The result in Paris was the latest episode in a series of below-par campaigns for Iran at major tournaments over the past 12 months.
The Iranian squad could only win three medals – double golds for Javadi as well as Davoudi’s C&J bronze – in last year’s World Championships and again had Davoudi to thank for the sole silver medal at the Asian Games.
However, Nasirshalal remains optimistic about what the future holds for the national team as he vowed to “restore the good old days for Iranian weightlifting.”
Next for the Iranian coach and his team is December’s World Championships in Manama, Bahrain.
Asked if his team is likely to enjoy a change of fortunes in the Bahraini capital, Nasirshalal told ISNA: “All I can expect is for all members of the squad to enter the event in their best shape and improve their personal records.”