Top 5: Iranian Wrestlers

With 43 of its 69 Olympic medals coming on the mat, it’s safe to say that Iran has an important and rich wrestling tradition.

The spark of future greatness happened during the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki when the nation won an improbable five medals. Since that hot start the country has kept up its winning ways, crowning Olympic and world champions year after year, with its strongest Olympic performance coming at the 2012 Olympics in London, where six Iranians won medals, including three gold.

Those performances were driven by individual accomplishments and these are the five men of the mat who have proven to be the best in their nation’s history.

5. Hassan YAZDANI

Hassan YAZDANI, nicknamed “The Greatest,” is currently one of the world’s top wrestling stars. His first world medal came in 2015 when he earned a silver at 70kg. The following year, Yazdani won the Olympic gold medal at 74kg. He then went on to win world titles in 2017 and 2019, along with a world bronze in 2018. Yazdani has a 17-2 record in world championship competition, with both losses coming to the world champion.

4. Rasoul KHADEM

Rasoul KHADEM was one of the world’s top upper-weight wrestlers in the 1990s. Khadem became an Olympic champion in 1996 at 90kg after winning an Olympic bronze at the Barcelona Olympics four years earlier at 82kg. He won back-to-back world titles in 1994 and 1995 before his run to Olympic gold in Atlanta. At the 1996 Games, Khadem’s Olympic gold-medal victory came over Makharbek CHADARZEV (URS/RUS), a five-time world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. He added a world silver medal in 1998. Khadem was also a five-time Asian champion.