Iranian wrestler Azarpira’s quest for Olympic glory ends with bronze

Azarpira defeated two-time Olympic medal winner Kyle Snyder from the Unites States in the bronze-medal match of the 2024 Olympic Games on Sunday.

In the men’s freestyle 97kg, Azarpira lost to Bahrain’s Akhmed Tazhudinov 4-3 in his first match but defeated Kazakhstan’s Alisher Yergali 6-1 in repechage.

Earlier, Rahman Amouzad Khalili, 22, put up a valiant fight against his Japanese opponent, Kotaro Kiyooka, in the gold-medal match of the men’s 65kg category, and ultimately settled for silver.

Iran’s Hassan Yazdani in 86kg, Amir Hossein Zare in 125kg and Rahman Amouzad in 65kg have previously seized three silver medals.

Azarpira’s bronze brought Iran’s overall medal count at the Paris Olympics to 12—three golds, six silvers, and three bronzes—placing the nation in 21st position at the time of this report.

The only time Iran won more Olympic medals was at the London 2012 Olympics – 13 medals, which included 7 gold medals.

Iran was represented at the Paris 2024 Olympics by 40 athletes at the marquee sports event, including 29 men and 11 women, competing in 13 sports disciplines.

As in previous Olympic Games, wrestling and taekwondo brought Iran the majority of its medals.