Ghasem Rezaei

Ghasem Rezaei medal table
Ghasem Rezaei in Rio 2016.jpg
Wrestling
Iran
Olympic games
gold	2012 London	96 kg
Wrestling World Championships
silver	2015 Las Vegas	98 kg
bronze	2014 Tashkent	98 kg
bronze	2007 Baku	96 kg
World cup
silver	2007 Antalya	96 kg
Asian Championship
gold	2007 Bishkek	96 kg
bronze	2006 Almaty	84 kg

Ghasem Rezaei (born August 18, 1985 in Amol ) is an Iranian wrestler . He was 2012 Olympic champion in the Greco-Roman style light heavyweight .

Career

Ghasem Rezaei grew up in his hometown and started wrestling there as a teenager in 1999. He belongs to the sports club Takhti Amol (Gholamreza Takhti was the first Iranian Olympic champion in wrestling). He was trained mainly by Saeed Shirzad, Abdullah Chamagnoli and Mohammad Bana. He wrestles exclusively in the Greco-Roman style and is a student.

His international wrestling career began in 2004 when he became the Asian junior champion of the age group “Juniors” (up to the age of 18) in the middleweight division in Alma-Ata . A year later, in 2005, he was in Vilnius, again in the middleweight division, vice world champion in the juniors. In the same year he was used in Budapest at the Senior World Championships, but still had to learn the hard way in the middleweight division, because he lost his first fight against Shingo Matsumoto from Japan, dropped out and only finished 27th.

In 2006 Ghasem Rezaei won his first international senior medal with a third place at the Asian Championships in Alma-Ata. In 2007 he was first Asian light heavyweight champion in Bishkek. He won there ahead of Ässet Mämbetow from Kazakhstan and Chen Xiao Fei from China. Also at the 2007 World Championships in Baku, he did excellent, because he won a bronze medal there in the light heavyweight division. On the way to this medal he defeated Iwan Popow, Australia and Balasz Kiss , Hungary, then lost to Mindaugs Ezerskis from Latvia and triumphed over Rami Hietaniemi , Finland and Kenzo Kato, Japan. With this placement he had already won the right to start the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Before these games he was Asian champion for the second time in March 2008 in Jeju / South Korea. He referred Margulan Assembekow from Kazakhstan and Han Tae-young from South Korea to their places. At the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 he lost again against Mindaugas Ezerskis, albeit with 3: 4 points quite close. Since Ezerskis did not reach the final, he was eliminated and only came in 16th place.

After this disappointment, he did not participate in any international championships in the next few years. In 2011 he won the preparatory tournament for the 2012 Olympic Games in London ahead of Daigoro Timoncini, Italy and György Rizmajer, Hungary. In Astana, in March 2012, he won the tournament in front of Norikatsu Saikawa , Japan, Zhai Ningchao, China and Margulan Assembekow, and won the right to start at the Olympic Games in London. There he was in excellent shape and became Olympic light heavyweight champion with victories over Cenk İldem , Turkey, Artur Aleksanjan , Armenia, Yunior Estrada Falcon , Cuba and Rustam Totrow , Russia.

After his Olympic victory, Ghasem Rezaei was rarely seen on the international wrestling mat. But he started at the World Championships in Tashkent in 2014 and in Las Vegas in 2015 in the weight class up to 98 kg. In Tashkent he won a bronze medal after losing in the semi-finals to Artur Aleksanjan from Armenia with a victory in the consolation round over Alexander Grabowik from Belarus and in Las Vegas he fought his way up to the final in the same weight class, in which he again against Artur Aleksanjan lost. He became vice world champion in 2015.

International success

year	space	competition	Weight class	Results
2004	1.	Asian Junior Championship (Juniors) in Alma-Ata	medium	before Kim Sun-kyu, South Korea, Yanarbek Kenjejew, Kyrgyzstan and Suhbat Hajjev, Uzbekistan
2005	2.	Junior World Championships (Juniors) in Vilnius	medium	behind Yanarbek Kenjejew, in front of Denni Lipic, Sweden and Artur Schahinjan, Armenia
2005	27.	World Cup in Budapest	medium	after losing to Shingo Matsumoto, Japan
2006	3.	Asian Championship in Alma-Ata	medium	behind Kim Jung-sub, South Korea and Vitaly Sakharchenko, Kazakhstan
2006	5.	Golden Grand Prix in Baku	medium	behind Nazmi Avluca , Turkey, Oleksandr Darahan , Ukraine, Schalwa Gadabadse , Belarus and Alim Selimow , Belarus
2007	2.	World Cup in Antalya	Semi-difficult	behind Hamza Yerlikaya , Turkey, in front of Dimitri Timchenko, Ukraine and Wassili Tepluchow, Russia
2007	1.	Asian Championship in Bishkek	Semi-difficult	before Assat Membetow, Kazakhstan and Chen Xiao Fei, China
2007	7th	Dan Kolow & Nikola Petrow Memorial in Sofia	Semi-difficult	Winner: Kalojan Dinchew , Bulgaria ahead of Vasily Tepluchow
2007	3.	World Cup in Baku	Semi-difficult	after victories over Iwan Popow, Australia and Balasz Kiss, Hungary, a defeat against Mindaugas Ezerskis, Latvia and victories over Rami Hietaniemi, Finland and Kenzo Kato, Japan
2008	1.	Asian Championship in Jeju / South Korea	Semi-difficult	before Margulan Assembekow, Kazakhstan, Han Tae-young, South Korea and Abdulmalik Aliyev, Uzbekistan
2008	16.	OS in Beijing	Semi-difficult	after a loss to Mindaugas Ezerskis
2009	3.	"Yadegar Imam" Cup in Qom	Semi-difficult	behind Mohsen Beshinji, Iran and Emin Öztürk, Turkey
2010	8th.	"Vehbi-Emre" Memorial in Istanbul	Semi-difficult	Winner: Aslanbek Chuschtow , Russia ahead of Cenk İldem , Turkey
2010	8th.	"Yadegar Imam" Cup in Qom	Semi-difficult	Winner: Babak Hossein Ghorbani Goldasteh ahead of Mohammed Reza Akbari , both Iran
2011	1.	FILA test tournament in London	Semi-difficult	before Daigoro Timoncini, Italy, György Rizmajer, Hungary and Rami Hietaniemi
2012	1.	Olympic qualification tournament in Astana	Semi-difficult	before Norikatsu Saikawa, Japan, Zhai Ningchao, China and Margulan Assembekow
2012	gold	OS in London	Semi-difficult	after victories over Cenk Ildem, Turkey, Artur Aleksanjan, Armenia, Yunior Estrada Falcon, Cuba and Rustam Totrow, Russia
2014	3.	World Cup in Tashkent	up to 98 kg	after victories over Fredrik Schoen, Sweden, Musa Ewlojew , Russia and Marthin Hamlet Nielsen , Norway, a defeat against Artur Aleksanjan and a victory over Alexander Grabowik, Belarus
2015	1.	"Wladyslaw Pytlasinski" tournament in Warsaw	up to 98 kg	before Peter Oehler, Germany, Musa Ewlojew and Fredrik Schoen
2015	2.	World Cup in Las Vegas	up to 98 kg	after victories over Islam Magomedow, Russia, Yasmany Daniel Lugo Cabrera, Cuba, Cenk Ildem and Elis Guri , Bulgaria and a defeat against Artur Aleksanjan

Explanations

• all competitions in Greco-Roman style
• OS = Olympic Games, WM = World Championship
• Middle weight, up to 2001 up to 85 kg, since 2002 up to 84 kg, light heavyweight, from 2002 to 2013 up to 96 kg body weight, since January 1, 2014 up to 98 kg body weight

swell

• Trade journal Der Ringer
• Foeldeak Wrestling Database website
• Website of the Iranian Wrestling Association (en.iawf.ir)

Web links

• Profile of Ghasem Rezaei at the Institute for Applied Training Science
• Ghasem Rezaei in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Fight of Ghasem Rezaie (red) against Rustam Totrow at the 2012 Olympic Games