A 10-meter-high statue in honor of a “hero” Paralympic Games at the entrance to his hometown? While such a tribute remains difficult to imagine in France, this is not the case in Iran. Since 2020, a giant bust of Siamand Rahman, double Paralympic weightlifting champion – bench press to be precise – has been installed in Oshnaviyeh, a city in the northwest of the country.
Died of a heart attack on the 1stis March 2020, at the age of 31, the gold medalist at the London Games in 2012 and Rio in 2016 remains an icon in the Islamic Republic. “The strongest Paralympic athlete in the world”, as he has been nicknamed, remains to this day the only one to have lifted a bar of more than 300 kg.
“In Iran, where there is a cult of strongmen, the fame of Siamand Rahman, who lost the use of his legs because of polio, can be compared to that of a Teddy Riner in France, and it endures.”underlines Alexis Querou, responsible for bench press performance at the French Paralympic Sports Federation (FFH).
The Islamic Republic is not the only country where weightlifting is a flagship discipline in disabled sports. A number of nations, particularly with a view to their participation in the Paralympic Games, “focus their efforts on a few individual disciplines, such as the bench press, where they are almost certain to win medals”, observes Mehdi Ourizat, the coach of the French Paralympic weightlifting team.
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So, for Egypt, the Parisian event will truly begin on Wednesday, September 4 with the bench press competitions. While this country is present in about ten different sports in Paris, it is counting on its weightlifters (thirteen participants, including six women) to ensure they do not leave empty-handed. Since Seoul 1988, the latter have always been invited onto the podium of the Paralympic Games, as Emad Ramadan, the president of the Egyptian delegation, even wanted to prove to the newspaper Al-Ahram Weekly.
This strategy also applies to Nigeria, whose representatives are aligned in only four disciplines (weightlifting, table tennis, badminton, shot put) and whose hopes of rewards rest mainly on the bench press: eight weightlifters, including seven women, will take part in the events. In Rio, in 2016, the Nigerians won six of their eight gold medals in lifting weights.
“Much less demanding than in other disciplines”
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