The story of Iran and its love of freestyle wrestling

Wrestling is the national sport of Iran and if you’ve ever wrestled or grappled for long enough, then you will probably have bumped into an Iranian wrestler. There is a reason for its great love of wrestling and it actually makes sense. Back in ancient times, Iran (or Persia) was known as Mesopotamia and is also known as the cradle of civilization.

In short, wrestling was around in those times in Greece as well as Persia. Back then, it was known as Varzesh-e-Bastani which was created to improve your mental and physical health. This goes in line with various other philosophies that surround martial arts…the improvement of your mental as well as physical attributes.

What type of wrestling does Iran like best?

These days, Iranians mostly practice freestyle wrestling. Generally, there are three types of wrestling. The other two types are folkstyle and Greco-Roman. Freestyle wrestling aims at pinning the opponent’s shoulders to the mat and pinning them. This differs from folkstyle which places an emphasis on specific takedowns and is a bit different regarding rules.

Greco-Roman is very different from the other two, as it is not legal to grab the legs in Greco-Roman and relies entirely on upper-body throws. One of the greatest MMA fighters ever, Khabib Nurmagomedov was incredibly effective at using freestyle wrestling techniques to down his opponents.

Who is the best Iranian wrestler?

In recent times, World and Olympic Champion Hassan Yazdani is credited as the best wrestler from Iran. Yazdani is famed for his underhook, knee tap takedown. Here, he would force the opponents are upwards and drive to the side, tapping their far knee to takedown his opponent. This worked particularly successfully and earned him gold at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. In the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, Iranians took gold, silver, and bronze in freestyle wrestling which speaks volumes. Elsewhere, in other sports Iranians very rarely medal in comparison to wrestling. This proves the nation is crazy about wrestling.

However, historically speaking – it is probably Gholamreza Takhti who is considered the best ever Iranian wrestler. In the Olympics alone, he scored one gold, as well as two silvers. He also won the World Championships twice during the early 60s. Takhti was known off the mat as a great man too, who was a gentleman. Sadly, he died aged 37 and his death was documented as a suicide. At the time and to this day, many argue that he was murdered for opposing the Iranian regime at the time.

Why are Iranians so good at wrestling?

As mentioned above, wrestling in Iran is a big deal. Culturally, this means the country will probably produce some top athletes at some point. This is backed up by the country’s success in terms of major medals. Having said this, it’s not just a cultural reason. Other countries also have top wrestlers too with different training regimes. Perhaps what is most unique about Iranian wrestling culture is its links to weight lifting. Again, this dates back to ancient times and ties in well with wrestling.

As any wrestler will tell you – grappling is physically exhausting and is not easy. This is why it’s important to lift weights to protect against injury and make you stronger and more explosive when competing. Because of this, the Iranian culture of weight lifting and wrestling go hand in hand. This may be an ancient recipe, but it is also a highly successful one that breeds champions.

Conclusion

Hopefully this article has highlighted the cultural side of wrestling in Iran. Here, it should outline why wrestling is the national sport of Iran, and why Iranians are so good at it. To cut a long story short, the reason for this literally goes back thousands of years. As a result, the nation of Iran loves to wrestle. Not only this but over the years, as the Iranian population has spread abroad – the art of freestyle wrestling has been spread to other countries far and wide.