Iran makes Olympics history

TEHRAN,Aug.14(MNA)--It’s been a memorable Olympics for Iran, which finished in 17th place in the medal table. The Persians claimed four gold, five silver and three bronze medals in the London 2012 Olympic Games, marking the best ever performance by the country. It’s the best ever Olympics for Iranians in these Games. Iran’s National Olympic Committee was under pressure as Olympic officials had threatened to ban it from participating in the games and several federation heads were removed from their positions. However, the Iranians surprised the world by finishing 17th, placing themselves above countries such as Jamaica, Spain, Brazil, Turkey and Sweden. Greco-Roman wrestling Iran’s Greco-Roman team made history at the games with Mohammad Bana’s boys bringing back three gold medals. Hamid Sourian beat Azerbaijan's Rovshan Bayramov in the 55kg weight class and won Iran’s first ever Greco-Roman Olympic gold. Omid Noroozi beat Georgia's Revaz Lashkhi in the 60kg class, winning gold. Ghasem Rezaei also clinched gold in the 96kg division after defeating Russia's Rustam Totrov. Freestyle wrestling Iran displayed a better performance in this event compared to previous times. The Iranian freestyle wrestlers won one silver and two bronze medals in London while wrestling-mad Iran only managed a bronze in Beijing. Sadegh Goudarzi lost to America’s Jordan Burroughs in the gold medal match of the 74kg. Ehsan Lashgari defeated Ibrahim Bolukbasi in the 84kg class and won the bronze medal. In the 120kg, Komeil Ghasemi beat American Tervel Dlagnev and claimed the bronze. Weightlifting The strongest man of the London 2012 Olympic Games was an Iranian: Behdad Salimi. Iranian weightlifters won four medals in the competitions. Kianoush Rostami, who was set to win the gold medal, finished in third place. The 85kg lifter claimed the bronze medal with a total of 380kg. In the 105kg weight class, Navab Nasirshelal received a silver medal by lifting 411kg in total. Iran’s super heavyweights Behdad Salimi and Sajjad Anoushirvani won the gold and silver medals by hoisting 455kg and 449kg in total respectively. Athletic Ehsan Hadadi made history by winning the Iran’s first track-and-field medal in the Olympic Games. Hadadi claimed a silver medal in the men's discus with a throw of 68.18 meters. The Iranian discus thrower finished in third place at last year's world championships in Daegu, South Korea. Taekwondo Mohammad Bagheri Motamed won the Olympic taekwondo silver medal in the men's 68kg division. Bagheri Motamed lost to Servet Tazegul of Turkey 5-4 in the final game, winning bronze. Yousef Karami, who participated in the event with a chance of wining a medal, was eliminated from the competitions with two defeats. The U.S. topped the Olympics medal count with 46 gold, 29 silver and 29 bronzes medals; 104 overall. China came second with 38 gold, 27 silver, 22 bronze medals; 87 overall. Host-country Britain also had plenty of celebrate: 29 gold medal, 17 silver, 19 bronze; 65 medals overall. (By Masoud Hossein)