From Doha defeat to Paris podiums:
How did Iranian sport fare in 2024?
From a semifinal setback at the AFC Asian Cup in Doha to astonishing Olympic medals in Paris, 2024 was filled with highs and lows for Iranian sport. As the calendar year comes to a close, the following provides a brief overview of how Iranian athletes performed in various international events over the past 12 months.
By Amirhadi Arsalanpour
Staff writer
Last-four heartbreak
The year began with the flagship international showpiece of Asian football in Qatar, where three-time champion Iran was desperate to end a 48-year wait for the elusive crown.
With strike force duo Mahdi Taremi and Sardar Azmoun spearheading one of the finest generations of Iranian football, Team Melli won the group with maximum points before laboring to a shootout win against Syria in the round of 16.
The pinnacle of Iran’s campaign came in the quarterfinals as Mohammad Mohebbi and Alireza Jahanbakhsh found the net in the second half, the latter scoring from the spot in the 96th minute, to help Amir Qalenoei’s side pull off a 2-1 comeback victory over Asian powerhouse Japan.
The triumph, however, was followed by a 3-2 loss to the host as Iran fell to a second consecutive semifinal defeat in the competition.
Qalenoei’s men still managed to finish the year on a high note, claiming five wins – including a 4-1 rout of Qatar – in a six-game unbeaten run to sit firmly atop the World Cup qualification group, and are on the verge of securing a place in the 2026 finals in North America when the qualifiers are back in late March.
Wrestling, taekwondo
to the rescue
It was more or less business as usual for Iran at the Paris Olympics in July and August as the country again had wrestling and taekwondo representatives to thank for the taste of glory in the sporting extravaganza.
Eight of the 11 wrestlers left the French capital with a medal, while all four members of the taekwondo squad finished on the podium to steer Iran’s 40-athlete delegation to the 21st spot in the medal table – six places better off than the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, where Iran had to settle for seven medals despite sending 65 athletes to the Games.
Iran’s taekwondo campaign was one for the ages after the team made a clean sweep of four medals.
Young gun Arian Salimi walked away with the ultimate prize in the men’s +80kg contests to round off a thrilling, action-packed four days for the Iranians in the Grand Palais, notching up a first Olympic taekwondo gold for the country since Hadi Saei’s triumph in Beijing 2008.
Nahid Kiani and teenage sensation Mobina Ne’matzadeh made history in the women’s competitions as the former became the first Iranian girl to reach the final showpiece in any Olympic event before taking the -57kg silver, while the latter’s -49kg bronze meant this year’s Games were the most productive for the Iranian female athletes.
Mehran Barkhordari also produced magnificent performances to end Iran’s 12-year wait for a men’s final spot, though he was ultimately beaten in the -80kg showdown.
The wrestling event, meanwhile, was packed with mixed emotions for the Iranian fans. While the country enjoyed the introduction of some up-and-coming stars, as well as sensational victories over high-profile opponents, there was a disappointing conclusion to Iran’s quest for a first freestyle gold since Rio 2016.
Looking to dethrone Saei as Iran’s most decorated Olympian, Hassan Yazdani was hit with a recurring shoulder injury in the untimeliest fashion – the early seconds of the 86kg final showdown against Bulgaria’s Magomed Ramazanov, which cost the Iranian a 7-1 defeat.
Amirhossein Zare’ was the ultimate favorite for the superheavyweight gold in Paris prior to the event but a crazy three minutes of action in the final saw the Iranian trail Geno Petriashvili by nine points at the break and the second-period surge proved too little too late as it finished 10-9 in the Georgian’s favor.
The story was the same for Rahman Amouzad, who ran riot against two world champions in American Zain Retherford and Bulgaria’s Ismail Musukaev before being stunned 10-3 by low-profile Japanese Kotaro Kiyooka in the 65kg final.
Iranian prodigy Amir-Ali Azarpira fell to a first-round defeat against eventual gold medalist Akhmed Tazhudinov but still capped his decent run with a consolation bronze in the 97kg class thanks to a massive win against American great Kyle Snyder.
There was more joy for the Iranian wrestlers in the Greco-Roman competitions, as Saeid Esmaeili (67kg) and Mohammad-Hadi Saravi (97kg) emerged as surprise gold medalists of their respective weight classes.
Alireza Mohmadi, 21, also had every reason to be proud of his Olympic debut despite an 87kg final setback, while 130kg bronze medalist Amin Mirzazadeh would have definitely finished with a more prestigious medal, had it not been for a second-round loss to legendary Cuban Mijaín López, who went on to grab an Olympic-record fifth successive gold.
At the end of the Games, the 12-medal haul was the second best for Iran in 19 Olympic participations, with London 2012 remaining the most prolific with 13, including seven golds.
There were more taekwondo and wrestling glories for the Iranians throughout the year.
The World Junior Championships in October was yet another indication of Iranian taekwondo being on the right track, as seven golds medals, as well as double silvers and bronzes apiece saw Iran beat South Korea to the men’s and women’s team titles in its own backyard.
In wrestling, Iranians continued their success in age-group competitions, with October’s double under-23 crowns in Tirana taking the country’s tally to 14 team trophies in five years across different youth-level world championships.
Record haul
Iran celebrated an all-time most productive Paralympic campaign since the first participation in Seoul 1988, collecting a remarkable 25 medals across 11 days of action in Paris in August and September.
The Iranian men’s sitting volleyball team won a magnificent eighth title, while shooting sensation Sareh Javanmardi grabbed a third successive women’s 10m air pistol gold, with further achievements in powerlifting, athletics, archery, taekwondo, and judo events helping the Iranian delegation finish with eight golds, 10 silver, and seven bronzes.
the outcome would have been even better, had Sadeq Beit Sayyah not been stripped of the javelin throw gold for celebrating with a religious flag, which was deemed a violation of the Games’ code of conduct.
Bronze on the beach
The Iranian men’s futsal team lifted a record-extending 13th Asian title in April – at the expense of host Thailand in the final – but Vahid Shamsaei’s men failed to progress beyond the last-16 round in September’s World Cup, suffering a 4-3 loss to African champion Morocco in Bukhara, Uzbekistan.
The year was also one to forget for Iranian volleyball, after the men’s national team finished second from bottom in the 16-team table of the preliminary round and missed out on a berth for the Paris Olympics.
Iranian beach soccer team, however, reveled in a glorious World Cup run in February as the Asian champion hammered Belarus 6-1 in the third-place contest, emulating an all-time best finish in the event