Salimi in charge as Iranian weightlifting enters new era
Former Olympic champion Behdad Salimi will be looking to restore the good old days for Iranian weightlifting after taking charge of the men’s national team.
A superheavyweight gold medalist at London 2012 and a winner of four world titles, Salimi was appointed to the job last week, replacing Navvab Nasir-Shalal, who stepped down from his role after two years at the helm.
Nasir-Shalal led his team to a second place in the team table behind China in December’s World Championships in Manama, Bahrain, though his squad settled for a single gold across 10 weight classes through Alireza Yousefi in the +109kg clean & jerk event.
Meanwhile, Sohrab Moradi – also an ex-Olympic gold medalist – was named the head coach of the Iranian men’s junior squad.
“It will definitely be a tough job as the federation’s success will be judged by the senior team’s results,” Salimi said after being appointed to the role, adding: “My contract will run until the end of the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya and then the new head of the federation by that time will decide on further cooperation with me.”
“For now, my top priority will be to deliver decent results in the upcoming world and Asian championships later this year, as well as the Islamic Solidarity Games in August,” added the three-time Asian Games gold winner.
“We have a young squad and many of the team members also represent the country in the lower age groups, so I will be looking to work in full co-ordination with the technical staff of the Iranian junior team to make sure a formidable squad will head to the Asian Games in two years’ time. Sohrab Moradi enjoyed an illustrious career and I’m confident he will build on years of experience as a decorated weightlifter and coach to succeed in the new role.”
Salimi is the third coach of the men’s national team – following Ali Hosseini and Nassir-Shalal – during Sajjad Anoushiravani’s two-year reign at the Iranian Weightlifting Federation, but his appointment has already raised doubts among weightlifting experts and pundits in the country, as he has never worked as a coach since retiring after a gold-winning campaign at the 2018 Asian Games.
“There are major tournaments ahead of Salimi and his team, while he will have to set sights on Iran’s success in the 2028 Olympic Games. Behdad has no coaching experience but has been privileged to work with some high-profile coaches throughout his career. I guess it’s a bit too soon to assess his prowess for the job. We can only wait and see how he delivers in the near future,” said Saied Mohammadpour, who won an Olympic gold alongside Salimi in 2012.
Weightlifting has been the second-most prolific sporting event for the country – after wrestling – in the history of the Olympics, yielding 20 medals – including nine golds – since Jafar Salmasi became a maiden Iranian Olympic medalist by winning a bronze in 1948.
However, Iranian weightlifting has been yearning for an Olympic gold since Rio 2016, when Moradi and Kianoush Rostami walked away with the ultimate prize of their respective events.
Ali Davoudi is the last Iranian weightlifter to stand on the podium in the Games, finishing runner-up to Georgian great Lasha Talakhadze in the superheavyweight contest in Tokyo four years ago.
The future still remains bright for the sport in Iran, after the country collected an impressive 50 medals across the men’s and women’s competitions at the Asian Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championships in Doha last December.