Thursday 16 September, 2004
Spirit of Man
Since the Athens Olympics I’ve been meaning to write about the athlete that impressed me more than any other. I am talking about Hossain Rezazadeh, nicknamed ‘Hercules of Iran’, the super-heavyweight champion of Olympic Weightlifting. An enormous man-mountain of some 360 pounds (160 kilos), Hossain grew up as a second child in a poor family in the Ardebil region of Iran, the area where the mythical Hercules of Greek legends was once born.
Holder of both world records in weightlifting (clean and jerk as well as snatch) Hossain is probably the strongest man that has ever lived. To give you an idea of his strength, he can lift two adult men above his head in EACH hand. At 26 years of age, the frightening thing is that his best years are still ahead of him.
Always laughing and playing to the crowd he is the only man I know who nods, winks and smiles to the audience while holding the weight of two fridge-freezers above his head. Crowds love him –and not just Iranians. Few athletes have the charisma and charm to break the barriers of nationalism and racism, but Hossain has those qualities in abundance. As he kissed the ground in gratitude after the successful lift that broke the Olympic record, the Athens crowd erupted in cheers and applause.
I often find deeply religious people disturbing and unsettling. Hossain, however, has opposite effect on me though he is a devout muslim. The Hercules of Iran calls on imam Ali before each lift and shouts ‘Allahu Akbar’ when going gets really tough, but this only seems to add to his charm. Even bringing holy Qua’ran to the awards ceremony for some reason did not annoy me, for his child-like delight on winning and genuine love for the people won me over easily.
In a sport plagued by steroid abuse, Hossain stands tall when it comes to moral fibre. Several countries have made him offers of enormous amount of money, including a staggering 20 000$ a week and 10 million $ bonus made by Turkey to switch nationality and compete under Turkish flag. Greeks reportedly offered him 20 million $ to leave Iran and lift for Greece. Amazingly, Hossain turned all the offers down. As impressive as his strength is, I am far more impressed by his ability to resist that temptation –Iran is in no position to offer financial rewards to match that amount of money.
I doubt I would have had the strength to turn down that much money.
LATER: Edited typos. Plus a piece of trivia: Hossain's favourite hobby is eating. :)
Posted by Dragon at 16 September 11:29, 2004as a countryman of hossain rezazadeh i read your artticle about him, you described him very well, you are right, the offering money is saggering abd very tempting but for your information hossain is very rich now and the regime uses him as the symbol of their so-called islamic revolution,although i'm proud of such fantastic athlet, non the less i would preferd he had gone to Greece or Turkey because it could be a punch in hte face of a goverment which has tortured a nation for 25 years.
# 2 - Dragon (on September 23, 2004 04:44 PM):
I understand what you are saying, though I feel that polictics should not come to sports. I'd imagine (though don't know for sure) that his decision is not based on his fondness of the regime but other factors.
My writing definately was not meant as support for the government of Iran, rather it was my appreciation for the sporting achievements of the man.
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