Said Rasoul RAISSI

In his youth Rasoul Raisi was involved in numerous sports, but he did not become interested in weightlifting until the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran during World War II, when he took up the sport to impress the Russian troops. Discovering a talent in this activity, he began competing actively and, after finding success as a junior, he was eventually selected to represent Iran at the 1948 Summer Olympics. There he competed in the light-heavyweight (82.5 kg) division and finished eighth among sixteen competitors with a total lift of 355.0. His next stop was the 1949 World Championships where, in the same class, he earned a bronze medal behind American Stan Stanczyk and Jean Debuf of France, who had been first and fourth respectively at the London Games. He found even more success at the 1951 Asian Games, where he captured gold in the middle heavyweight (90 kg) event. On his return from this tournament, the plane that was carrying him back to Iran nearly crashed after in-flight problems. He retired from active competition shortly after this, but remained active in sport through coaching, the organization of community sport, and the development of weightlifting in Iran at the national level before and after the 1979 Revolution. By the time of his death in July 2015 he was the last surviving Iranian weightlifter from the 1948 Games.