Iranian wrestler Yazdani back in training in bid for coveted Olympic crown
Iranian wrestling great Hassan Yazdani began his bid for an elusive second Olympic gold medal on Monday.
Yazdani, 30, started his rehabilitation program under national team coach Hassan Hosseinzadeh at the Iranian Wrestling Federation gym in Tehran – five months after undergoing a second surgery on his injured shoulder in the French city of Nice.
A winner of a national-high 10 world and Olympic medals, the wrestling sensation last appeared at the 2024 Paris Olympics back in August, where he settled for the freestyle 86kg silver after a 7-1 defeat against Bulgarian Magomed Ramazanov.
Yazdani had already been out of action for eight months before last June’s Ranking Series event in Budapest – due to a first surgery on his right shoulder – but recovered in time to secure his place in the national team for the Games.
The Iranian showed no signs of an injury on his way to the final showpiece but the problem flared up against Ramazanov as he struggled with the dislocated shoulder from the get-go, calling for treatment on several occasions throughout the six minutes of action.
A gold medal in Paris would have seen Yazdani overtake taekwondo legend Hadi Saei as the most decorated Iranian in the history of the Olympic Games with two golds and one silver.
A 74kg champion in Rio 2016, Yazdani suffered an Olympic final heartbreak against his familiar foe David Taylor in Tokyo five years later, and when the American fell short against Aaron Brooks in the US Olympic trials, the Iranian looked to be the favorite for the ultimate prize in Paris.
Iranian fans thought the defeat against Ramazanov was the last episode of Yazdani’s storied career but he was quick to reject the retirement plan on his return from the French capital as he remains eager to collect the coveted gold in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Dr. Sohrab Kayhani, the head of the medical team at the Iranian federation, said at the time of Yazdani’s surgery in September that the three-time world gold winner would face “between 12 to 18 months” on the sidelines and is unlikely to feature in the Iranian trials for the World Championships next summer.
Yazdani has gained significant weight over the past five months and is unlikely to compete in the 86kg class ever again, according to his personal coach Hemmat Moslemi.
“As it stands, Hassan will participate in the 92kg contests in the 2026 world event, and will then move up to the 97kg category if he decides to compete in the next Asian Games. His ultimate goal will be to take part in the 97kg class in the L.A. Games, but we should take one step at a time,” Moslemi told Varzesh3 last November.
That means Yazdani will likely have to overcome domestic competition from 22-year-old Amir-Ali Azarpira – a bronze medalist in Paris – and Mojtaba Goleij for the Iranian 97kg spot in the Games, before taking on the likes of reigning Olympic champion Akhmed Tazhudinov, and American great Kyle Snyder for the top podium in Los Angeles.