Iranian Greco-Roman Wrestling Makes History With Unprecedented World Domination
Tehran - BORNA - Iran dominated the competition with a margin so wide that its 192 points exceeded the combined totals of runners-up Azerbaijan (104) and third-place Uzbekistan (80).
United World Wrestling praised Iran’s performance, noting that with Esmaeili’s gold medal, the team secured the top spot with 192 points, won medals in nine of the 10 weight classes for the first time, and sent seven wrestlers to the finals — the highest number of finalists Iran has ever had at a World Championships.
A Difficult Beginning: One Gold Medal in Four Decades
Iran first competed in the Greco-Roman wrestling World Championships in 1961. Between 1961 and 1999, the country made 51 appearances at the tournament, winning just one gold, three silver and four bronze medals.
Iranian teams often consisted of only two or three wrestlers and lacked the depth needed to contend consistently at the highest level. Firooz Alizadeh won Iran’s first Greco-Roman world title in 1969.
The First Gold of the New Century and the Rise of Sourian
In 2001, Hassan Rangraz became world champion, 32 years after Iran’s first world title in Greco-Roman wrestling, ushering in a new era for the sport in the country.
Hamid Sourian, one of Iran’s greatest Greco-Roman wrestlers, won six world titles. At four consecutive World Championships from 2005 to 2009, he was Iran’s only gold medalist. In 2012, he became Iran’s first Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling champion. At the same Olympics, Omid Norouzi and Ghasem Rezaei also won gold medals.
Hamid Sourian is the most decorated Greco-Roman wrestler in Iran’s history.
First World Team Title in 2014, Followed by a Slump
Iran won its first Greco-Roman team title at the World Championships in 2014. However, the team struggled to win gold medals from 2015 to 2019, during which Ghasem Rezaei was the only Iranian wrestler to reach a world final.
Following the Tokyo Olympics, where Mohammadreza Geraei won gold, Iran made history at the 2021 World Championships in Oslo by claiming four gold and two bronze medals.
The current team has now surpassed even that remarkable performance, reaching seven finals across the 10 weight classes.
Unrivaled Performance
For the first time, Iran won medals in nine of the 10 weight classes. Its seven finalists also set a national record for the number of finalists at a World Championships.
The result ranks among the strongest team performances in the history of the modern World Championships.
Comparison With Russia
Between 1993 and 2021, Russia won 98 world medals in Greco-Roman wrestling: 44 gold, 26 silver and 28 bronze. Over the past three years, however, Russian wrestlers have won only six medals — one silver and five bronze — and failed to win gold at the latest World Championships.
The contrast highlights the shift in the balance of power in international Greco-Roman wrestling, with Iran emerging as the dominant force.
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