Iranian Hercules will miss Olympics
Published 11:14 pm Thursday, July 24, 2008
TEHRAN, Iran — Weightlifter Hossein Rezazadeh, known as “The Iranian Hercules,” will not participate in the Beijing Olympics.
The super heavyweight, who won gold in Sydney and Athens, has been advised by doctors to stay home to avoid “heavy and stressful activity,” state television reported Thursday.
Rezazadeh won a gold medal at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, but hasn’t competed internationally since injuring a knee in a traffic accident last year.
“I am confident that my young friends will be well able to repeat the national honor in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Therefore, I accept the doctors’ recommendation,” Rezazadeh was quoted as saying.
Rashid Sharifi, another Iranian heavyweight weightlifter, will take Rezazadeh’s place.
Iran plans to send 53 athletes to Beijing — its largest Olympic contingent of athletes since the 1976 Montreal Games.
The group also includes three women, who will compete in taekwondo, shooting and rowing. Iranian women are allowed to compete in sports that require taking off their Islamic headdress, but only in female-only arenas.
Najmeh Abtin will compete in shooting and Homa Hosseini in rowing. The only Olympic appearance of a woman from Iran in Athens was in shooting.
Notes
BASKETBALL: LeBron James’ teammates have their own guarantee: They’ll help the U.S. star try to back up his boast.
And none seemed to have much trouble with James’ promise of an Olympic gold medal, which appeared in a Time magazine story that hits newsstands Friday.
“You know what, I’ve never really understood the big deal about guaranteeing a win,” Dwyane Wade said after practice. “I mean, we all feel we’re going to win, so what’s the difference with him saying we’re going to win?
“They had on ESPN ‘King-sized guarantee.’ Well, we all guarantee that we’re going to go over there and we’re going to win. We’re not guaranteeing we’re going to lose. You’re supposed to feel that you’re going to win every game. You’re not going over there to do nothing but win the gold. And that’s what our vision is, that’s what we’re thinking, then say it.”
James stopped short Thursday of saying “I guarantee” — technically, he never did in the story, either — but made it clear it’s the way he feels.
“We don’t have a choice but to win gold. That’s what we’re here for, so I believe in our team and I believe in what we can do out there,” James said. “So I mean guarantee or however you want to look at it, we want to win and that’s what we’re looking forward to doing.”
POLITICS: Just two weeks before the start of the Olympics, Iraq was told it’s not welcome in Beijing because of a political feud in Baghdad that angered the games’ guardians and exiled a country that arrived to a roaring ovation at the opening ceremony four years ago. The International Olympic Committee told Iraqi sports officials in a letter that it would uphold its ban imposed in June after the government in Baghdad replaced its national Olympic panel with members not recognized by the IOC. The IOC had called the move unacceptable government interference.
TRACK: Nader al-Masri, a 5,000-meter runner, is one of four athletes who will represent the Palestinian territories in Beijing. Al-Masri comes from the Beit Hanoun refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, a frequent fire zone in battles between Hamas and Israeli troops. His best time — 14 minutes 24 seconds — is about a minute slower than the qualifying pace. But the Olympics offer 90 special slots for athletes who wouldn’t otherwise qualify. The Palestinian territories, while lacking statehood, have been represented at the Olympics since the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
EQUESTRIAN: Three-time Olympic equestrian gold medalist Andrew Hoy was cleared Thursday on charges of abusing a horse. The Australian and Dutch eventer Madeleine Brugman, whom he trains, had been accused by the International Equestrian Federation of using illegal spiked boots on a horse at a competition in Barroca d’Alva, Portugal, in March.
