Arash Miresmaeili

Arash Miresmaeili (PerB| آرش میراسماعیلی , born March 3, 1981 in Khorramabad) is an Iranian judoka. He is a double world featherweight champion. He represents "Judo Club Weisbaden" in the "Judo Bundesliga".

World Judo Championships

He won the gold medal in two World Judo Championships, the first one in 2001 in Munich, Germany, and the second in 2003 in Osaka, Japan. He also won bronze medal in the 2005 World Judo Championships in Cairo, Egypt and 2007 World Judo Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Athens Olympic Games

Arash Miresmaili was the favourite for the gold medal in the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he was the flag bearer for Iran at the opening ceremonies. Slated to fight Israeli competitor Ehud Vaks in the first round, he was disqualified from competing because he was above the allowable weight limit for his class. It was claimed that Miresmaili deliberately set out to be disqualified rather than compete against an Israeli, which was interpreted from his own comments: "Although I have trained for months and was in good shape I refused to fight my Israeli opponent to sympathise with the suffering of the people of Palestine and I do not feel upset at all." [ [http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=5&theme=&usrsess=1&id=51197 The Statesman ] ]

Comments from Iranian officials and politicians have supported this view. The Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted then Iranian President Mohammad Khatami as saying that Miresmaeili's actions would be "recorded in the history of Iranian glories" and that the nation considered him to be "the champion of the 2004 Olympic Games." Iranian Olympic team chairman Nassrollah Sajadi told Shargh newspaper that the government should give the athlete $115,000 for his action, the amount the Iranian government awards gold medal winning athletes. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6582-2004Aug16.html Judoka Praised by Iranian Government (washingtonpost.com) ] ] Then mayor of Tehran and current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that though Miresmaeili "did not get a gold medal, he earned eternal honor by his refusal". [ [http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/athens/fight/2004-09-08-iranian-judo_x.htm USATODAY.com - Iranian judo competitor rewarded after failing to compete against Israeli ] ] Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, the speaker of Iran's parliament, congratulated Miresmaeili, calling his refusal to compete a "brave decision" and that "Your disqualification because of supporting Palestine would promote your position in the heart of Muslims." [http://www.tsn.ca/olympics/story/?id=95451] [http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=11017]

On August 18, 2004, the International Judo Federation (IJF), which set up a commission to investigate whether Miresmaeili deliberately missed weight so he would not have to face Vaks, concluded he had no intention to avoid competing against an Israeli. After a hearing that included the president of Iran's judo federation, the commission concluded that Miresmaeili said he had no pre-planned intentions for not competing and that "he made no statement of any sort to any press," according to an IJF statement. The only issue that remained was that Miresmaeili was overweight on the weigh-in day, the IJF said, and as it has no rule for penalizing overweight athletes, it decided not to take any action against him. [http://www.tsn.ca/olympics/story/?id=95451]

On September 8, 2004, Iran's official press agency announced the government had given him $125,000, the same amount awarded to Iran's two Athens gold medalists. [ [http://sports.yahoo.com/oly/news?slug=ap-iran-judo&prov=ap&type=lgns Yahoo! Sports - Sports News, Scores, Rumors, Fantasy Games, and more ] ]

2006 Asian Games

Though he was again the favourite for the gold medal in the 2006 Asian Games, he lost in the final match and won a silver medal.

Miresmaeili also won a Bronze medal at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok and finished 7th at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan.

References

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3562808.stm Mystery over Iran judo 'protest'] on BBC NEWS.