Emam-Ali Habibi, Iranian wrestling legend, dies at 94
Legendary Iranian wrestler Emam-Ali Habibi, a former world and Olympic champion, passed away at the age of 94 on Sunday.
Nicknamed ‘The Tiger of Mazandaran’, Habibi was a figurehead of the Iranian wrestling’s glory years in the 1950s and 60s – alongside Gholamreza Takhti and Abdollah Movahed – and became the first athlete to win a gold medal for the country at the Olympic Games, when he claimed the ultimate prize in the freestyle 67kg contests at the 1956 Melbourne Games.
Habibi bagged the first of his world gold medals in Tehran in 1959, and then repeated the success two years later as Iran lifted a maiden freestyle team trophy in Yokohama, Japan.
Habibi was also a 78kg gold medalist at the 1962 World Championships in Toledo, the United States, and walked away with an Asian Games title in Tokyo 1958.
The Iranian great will be best remembered for his exceptional pace, vigor, and stamina in the era of 12-minute bouts. His enduring legacy, however, lies in the signature moves he introduced to the sport.
Habibi is one of the six Iranian wrestlers – along with Takhti, Movahed, Ebrahim Javadi, Mansour Mahdizadeh, and Rasoul Khadem – to have been inducted into the United World Wrestling Hall of Fame, receiving the honor in 2007.