With an Olympic gold medal, two world titles, and over 500k Instagram followers, Hasan Yazdani is an Iranian hero. But can he gain redemption over the one man he is yet to beat?
Hassan YAZDANI, a 25-year-old native of Jouybar, is already a national hero in Iran. He's claimed gold at the Rio Olympic Games and has a pair of world titles on his resume. In an article published on the Olympic Channel, Andrew Binner broke down the career of "The Greatest" and looked at his path to a potential second Olympic title.
"Freestyle wrestling is Iran’s national sport, so when Hassan Yazdani pinned down the 74kg gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics, he became an instant national hero.
He moved up to 86kg, which better suited his growing frame, taking out the world championships gold medal at his new weight division in 2017 and 2019.
Yazdani became known as The Greatest and Fearless back home, while his Instagram account swelled to over 500K followers. Quite simply, he could walk the streets of Iran like he was The King… which is incidentally another one of his nicknames there.
“The truth is that I hope I am worthy of these nicknames,” he told Tehran Times. “Each one is valuable for me and so I hope I can live up to the nicknames and the expectations of my great fans. I always want to keep their hope, so I accept them all and just hope that I am worthy.”
Read more on the Olympic Channel's site ... here
U23 World Championships • Las Vegas, United States