Refugee athlete Iman Mahdavi wrestles dream into reality in freestyle 74kg at Paris 2024 Olympics
Iman Mahdavi recently got a tattoo of the Olympic rings with ‘Paris 2024’ written underneath on his ribcage.
And now the 29-year-old wrestler has lived out his dream by making his debut in the men’s freestyle 74kg event at the Champ-de-Mars Arena.
Representing the Refugee Olympic Team, Mahdavi faced Serbia’s Hetik Cabolov, who came out on top but will not have diminished Mahdavi’s spirit.
“From Refugee Team, for 100 million, for peace,” Mahdavi had written on the Olympic Truce Mural in Paris, and he represented that global community with pride on Friday (9 August).
“My father encouraged me to do wrestling,” Mahdavi told Olympics.com ahead of Paris 2024.
“He took me to the wrestling club where I met a lot of other young people who were interested in doing wrestling. All the boys wanted to do it so that is also why I was always involved, I am fulfilling my dream to do wrestling.”
Mahdavi left the Islamic Republic of Iran and his since settled in Italy, where he lives in Milan and trains at Lotta Club Seggiano.
Awarded an IOC Refugee Athlete Scholarship back in December 2022, Mahdavi went on to make his Olympic debut in Paris.
Fifth out on Mat A, it was Cabolov who won 10-0, a victory by technical superiority, as Mahdavi bowed out of the competition.