A 10-meter-high statue in honor of a “hero” of the Paralympic Games at the entrance to his hometown? If such a tribute remains difficult to imagine in France, this is not the case in Iran. Since 2020, a giant bust of Siamand Rahman, double Paralympic champion in weightlifting (more precisely, bench press), has been installed in Oshnaviyeh, a town in the north-west of the country.
He died of a heart attack on the 1stAhem In March 2020, at the age of 31, the man who was a gold medallist at the London Games in 2012 and in Rio in 2016 remains an icon in the Islamic Republic. “The world’s strongest Paralympic athlete”, as he was nicknamed, remains to this day the only one to have lifted a barbell of more than 300 kg.
«In Iran, where there is a cult of strongmen, the notoriety of Siamand Rahman, who lost the use of his legs due to polio, can be compared to that of Teddy Riner in France, and continues»underlines Alexis Querou, head of bench press performance at the French Handisport Federation (FFH).
The Islamic Republic is not the only country where weightlifting is an emblematic discipline among sports for the disabled. A number of nations, in particular with a view to their participation in the Paralympic Games, “They concentrate their efforts on a few individual disciplines, such as the bench press, where they are almost certain to win medals”, observes Mehdi Ourizat, coach of the French Paralympic weightlifting team.
For Egypt, the Paris event will really begin on Wednesday 4 September with the bench press competitions. Although this country is present in ten different sports in Paris, it relies heavily on its weightlifters (thirteen participants, including six women) to ensure that it does not leave empty-handed. Since Seoul 1988, the latter have always been invited to the podium of the Paralympic Games, as Emad Ramadan, president of the Egyptian delegation, was keen to demonstrate to the newspaper. Al-Ahram Weekly.
This strategy also applies to Nigeria, whose representatives are only lined up in four disciplines (weightlifting, table tennis, badminton, shot put) and whose hopes of reward are based mainly on the bench press: eight weightlifters, including seven women, will take part in the competition. At Rio 2016, the Nigerians won six of their eight gold medals lifting cast iron.
“Much less demanding than in other disciplines”
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