How Iran's Olympic Team is Selected

[Payam_Ali]

Even though it is not over, these olympics have been rather dissapointing, which leads me to a general question about how Iran's olympic team is selected. I mentioned this in another post, but I think it is an important subject of conversation.

For example, weightlifting is supposed to be one of Irans best sports. Are these 3 weightlifters that we brought to the olympics truly the best in iran in their weightclasses(obviously with exception of rezazadeh)? If so, maybe we arent so good at weightlifting after all. I mean two of the guys were in the B group, and the other one got 7th. They are supposed to be the best weightlifters in our entire country!

Or... are these just the athletes that are so religious and display it so proudly that they were selected by the government to be allowed to represent Iran even though there were others better than them?

I suppose this applies to all sports, but i just thought of it after our weak performance overall in weightlifting which is supposed to be one of our best sports. Is there a religious bias by the government in who is allowed to represent Iran at the olympics and in other international competitions?

[b_tonymontana]

Even though it is not over, these olympics have been rather dissapointing, which leads me to a general question about how Iran's olympic team is selected. I mentioned this in another post, but I think it is an important subject of conversation.
For example, weightlifting is supposed to be one of Irans best sports. Are these 3 weightlifters that we brought to the olympics truly the best in iran in their weightclasses(obviously with exception of rezazadeh)? If so, maybe we arent so good at weightlifting after all. I mean two of the guys were in the B group, and the other one got 7th. They are supposed to be the best weightlifters in our entire country!
Or... are these just the athletes that are so religious and display it so proudly that they were selected by the government to be allowed to represent Iran even though there were others better than them?
I suppose this applies to all sports, but i just thought of it after our weak performance overall in weightlifting which is supposed to be one of our best sports. Is there a religious bias by the government in who is allowed to represent Iran at the olympics and in other international competitions?

The answer to your question is PARTIBAZI va BANDBAZI. It is part of our culture.

[princeofpersia1]

i don't buy this religious BS, Iran is a proud sporting nation and why would doing badly in the olympics be in Iran's/goverments best interests when sport happends to get the people of iran most fired up, sometimes things go wrong sometimes its all down to luck. I don't know what was expected before hand maybe ur expectations were wrong, the only true upset in my eyes so far was Hamid Sourian, and watching his matches it was purely down to luck and the judges verdict. This just wasn't a great year for iran, the only upset left is Hadi Saei not to win a gold, but i do expect atleast one more medal in the wrestling. But i hope this is the kick up the ass iran needed to sort Iran's sporting issues.

[Nokhodi]

Iran has qualifiers for all the events. Whoever wins there makes it to the Olympics.
Some of the other athletes in individual events make it through international Olympic qualifiers. There is no parti-bazi involved in athlete selection

[EKBATAN]

there is without a doubt lots of PARTIBAZI in our sports

my cousin for example was a great football player and he played for the rah ahan team youth in ekbatan and he was the best but he gave up by the time he finished high school because he realized with the corruption of the system and people's party bazi he'll never get anywhere.....so he made the right choice and went to college and got a degree. Sometimes u gotta be realistic.


now like nokhodi said, they hold qualifiers so its hard to do party bazi there but in general....in all corners of our sports, there's partybazi big time and ALOT of good athletes dont continue because of that

[Ali]

u have to qualify through different championships. ntin to do with religion and partibazi.

[Shamim]

there is without a doubt lots of PARTIBAZI in our sports
my cousin for example was a great football player and he played for the rah ahan team youth in ekbatan and he was the best but he gave up by the time he finished high school because he realized with the corruption of the system and people's party bazi he'll never get anywhere.....so he made the right choice and went to college and got a degree. Sometimes u gotta be realistic.
now like nokhodi said, they hold qualifiers so its hard to do party bazi there but in general....in all corners of our sports, there's partybazi big time and ALOT of good athletes dont continue because of that

In way its a good news Iran has almost no medals cuz ppl will realize PARTIBAZI is a bad thing and it will be less accepted in sports. Btw congrats to you EKBATAN, you really deserved to become a VIP member.

[Super Shojaei]

you have to qualify by qualifying from a set olympic time or distance if your an athlete or if your a wrestler, handball team , taekwondono or basketball you gotta qualify via the aisian championships i think.

[tashakor]

you get selected through events that are recognized by the International Olympic Comitee...for example...The Asian Games....Asian Championships (in w.e your sport is). I dont think akhoonds go "you, you and you are in, you 2 are out"

[Tooyedarbazeh]

Why did USSR do so well in their time? Because as a communist nation and a lack of freedoms for the people, the people loook to only a few things for entertainment. One being sport, so it was heavily invested in. The dicks running the country in Iran are giving no freedoms and the only place that we want them to at least invest a bit in, they aren't, all that is happening is private sponsors/investors that do partibazi, so what do you expect? In my honest opinion, the only events that require actual talent to being with is track events(running). Other than that, you can take a guy who doesn't know anything about shotput, but is strong and fit, and turn him into a world contender. The only factors that come in to place when it comes to the olympics is investment.

The reason China is doing so well is because of their investment. Some argue that when you have that many people you are bound to come across some great athletes. Yet their counterparts India had 1 medal last I checked. Not because of their ethnic athleticism, but because they have much less money even though they are a growing economy like China, to invest.