London Olympics 2012: World champion Iran's Behdad Salimikordasiabi the strongest man on earth

-DR. ABDUL RUFF

___________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Abdul Ruff, Specialist on State Terrorism;Chancellor-Founder of Centor for International Affairs(CIA); Independent Analyst;Chronicler of Foreign occupations & Freedom movements(Palestine,Kashmir, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Xinjiang, Chechnya, etc.) Former university Teacher; website: abdulruff.wordpress.com/ abdulruff_jnu@yahoo.com.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Iran has been in the forefront in sports  for years now.

World champion Behdad Salimikordasiabi if Iran (Persia) is now the strongest man on this earth and his outstadningperformace proved that in the just concluded 2012 Olympics in London. Behdad Salimikordasiabi needed just four lifts to secure the Olympics Gold ahead of Iran team-mate Sajjad Anoushiravani, sparking wild celebrations among scores of raucous Iranian and other Muslims fans in the weightlifting arena. European champion Ruslan Albegov of Russia finished third.

Meanwhile, four-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt remains unbeaten fastest man on earth by winning the 100 meter run. Not just because he stands 6 feet and 6 inches (198 cm) tall in a sport dominated by the short and squat, but because 'Salimi' also walks with the confidence of a man ready to win the title of the strongest man at the London Olympics on Tuesday. The vast Olympic training room at London's ExCel arena felt instantly smaller the moment Iran's 22 year-old super heavyweight weightlifting prodigy Behdad Salimikordasiabi walks in. And the vast numbers of Iranian fans inside ExCeL were afforded further delight after Sajjad Anoushiravani (449kg) took silver, with Russia's Ruslan Albegov (448kg) going home with bronze.

Iran ruled the final event of the Olympic weightlifting competition, winning gold and silver medals in a super heavyweight battle that saw Germany's defending champion drop out after a 196-kilogram barbell crashed down on his neck.

Salimikordasiabi from Iran, was the favorite for victory and the super heavyweight rose to the occasion to confirm his title as the 'strongest lifter in the world'. The 22-year-old managed a total of 455kg, which was not enough to eclipse the mammoth 472kg world and Olympic record managed by legendary compatriot Hossein Rezazadeh in 2000, but it did clinch Iran's first Weightlifting gold since 2004. Salimikordasiabi lifted 208 kilograms at London in the snatch portion and took 247 kilograms in his first attempt in the clean and jerk for a total of 455 kilograms.

Since no one even tried to challenge that score, the Iranian giant used his second attempt in the clean and jerk to try for a world record. He loaded the bar with 264 kilograms — the weight of a golf cart — but gave up instantly, and skipped his final lift. Other lifters pause their training to watch him, volunteers linger over their duties to see him complete a lift, and almost every member of the weightlifting alumni that make up the sport's governing body stops to shake his hand. (The competition had an ugly moment when defending Olympic champion Matthias Steiner lost his balance trying to lift 196 kilograms — about 432 pounds — in his second lift of the snatch portion of the competition. He fell awkwardly to the platform as the barbell crashed down on him).

No one top player goes away disappointed without a gold medal. Every hand offered is taken, dozens of people go home with a posed picture next to the big man, and every lift of a grueling training routine is completed without fuss and barely a grunt.

Since Salimikordasiabi entered senior international competition at the Asian championships in 2009 he has yet to be beaten in the over-105 kg, super heavyweight division. He won his first world title in 2010 and successfully defended it in 2011, setting the world record for snatch lift -- one of two Olympic lifting styles -- in the process. That lift totalled 214 kg, roughly equivalent to two baby forest elephants, and earned him one of the three world records set by his mentor and two-time Olympic champion, Hossein Rezazadeh. Rezazadeh is perhaps the only man capable of eclipsing Salimikordasiabi's presence in the weight room. After winning gold in the Sydney and Athens Games he has risen to the role of president of the Iranian governing body for weightlifting -- the top title in a country where heavyweight lifters are revered.

Born to middle-class parents in Ghaemshahr in the north of Iran, Salimikordasiabi is an educated man studying for a university degree in physical education. Speaking in broken but competent English, he politely explains that he has been advised not to give interviews to Western media, but when asked if he can break the world record he smiles: "Gold first". That task seems well within reach -- his entry weight into the competition puts him 10 kg ahead of his closest rival and countryman Sajjad Anoushiravani Hamlabad.

To claim the world record for the clean and jerk style he needs to lift 264 kg, and if his best lifts in the snatch and the clean and jerk total more than 472 kg he will wipe Rezazadeh's name from the world record list. The secret of his success, he says, is "good training, with heavy weights", but that understates the athleticism required to beat off the challenge of an international field containing notable competitors from Russia, Germany and Ukraine.

With his hulking frame barely covered by a XXL t-shirt, Salimi starts his training with low weights, perfecting the explosive speed needed to lift the barbell from the floor to an arm's length above his head in a single two-second movement. He ends the routine in the gaze of cameraphone lenses, taking the barbell from a stand raised to shoulder level and loaded with three red discs, a blue and a yellow -- a total of 245 kg -- then squatting to the floor with the bar across the back of his neck. Slowly, and in complete control, he returns to an upright position, and replaces it on the stand with improbable delicacy. Training is over for the day.

Athlete Behdad Salimi Kordasiabi (born December 8, 1989 in Ghaemshahr) is an Iranian weightlifter in the +105 kg category. Salimi currently holds the world record in the snatch with 214 kg in his weight class. At the 2010 World Weightlifting Championships Salimi won the gold medal in the +105 kg category. Salimi won gold again in the +105 kg category at the 2010 Asian Games with a 205 kg snatch and a 235 kg clean and jerk.

Salimi won the gold medal at the 2011 World Weightlifting Championships in Paris, France on November 13, 2011, and sent a new snatch world record of 214 kg. Salimi became the 2012 Olympic gold medalist in the +105 kg category on Aug. 7, 2012 with a 208 kg snatch, a 247 kg clean and jerk for a total of 455 kg

In brief:

Education

Physical Education - Qaemshahr University, Qa'emshahr, IRI

Family

Wife Alma Nosrati

Club name

Melli Haffari Ahvaz, Iran

Injuries

He won gold at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou despite suffering from the effects of swine flu which caused him to collapse during one of his clean and jerk lifts. (bbc.co.uk, 26 Jul 2011)

Additional information

Start of sporting career
He began at the age of 12 in the city of Qa'emshahr, Iran. (presstv.ir, 28 Sep 2010)

Reason for taking up this sport
His body type was similar to his favorite weightlifter Hossein Rezazadeh and he was supported by his parents. (presstv.ir, 28 Sep 2010)

Ambitions
To win an Olympic medal. (presstv.ir. 28 Sept 2010)

Training
"We have had intense training sessions. Two sessions per day and six days a week, sometimes we had three sessions a day. We began training at 6.30 a.m. about one hour before having breakfast. The next session was from 10 a.m. until 12 and then from 4.30 p.m. till 8 p.m. We had hard and extreme training sessions" (presstv.ir, 28 Sep 2010)

Hero
Weightlifter Hossein Tavakkoli and Hossein Rezazadeh. (presstv.Ir, 28 Sept 2010)