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Shining in Sydney
Capable of Impossible

The triumph of spirit reaches far beyond the physical strength. This fact has been repeatedly manifested ever since the first Paralympic Games were held in Rome 1960. But Iran’s role in setting new standards for the “triumph of spirit” emerged after the country went through a revolution and a war. The achievement was largely owing to those who had already defined “self-sacrifice” by facing the bullets and bombs in a revolution and a battlefield. As years passed, accomplishments of the disabled sportsmen and women of Iran continued to show the role of a dedicated management.
Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games was an occasion to demonstrate that even after the retirement of war-disabled athletes, the Iranian teams keep coming back with flying colors.
In recognition of the brilliant achievements of disabled Iranian athletes, Iran International interviewed Mahmoud Khosravi-Vafa, head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Sports Federation for the Disabled (IRISFD). For several years, his passion and dedication has been a major factor behind the achievements of Iran’s disabled athletes.

IRISFD’s Achievements: Iran has participated in four Paralympic Games so far. It is noteworthy that the IRISFD was created after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
We started our activity with such sports as power-lifting, athletics and sitting volleyball. Short after its inception, IRISFD joined the International Federation for the Disabled Sports. Two years after starting out, Iranian disabled participated in competitions held in then Yugoslavia, and in Norway sitting volleyball and that was when our sitting volleyball team achieved its first world championship.

In Sydney 2000, Iran achieved the best results in 20 years of its Paralympic appearances

In Seoul, Barcelona and Atlanta Games, Iranian disabled participated in 3 and 4 sports fields (athletics, shooting, power-lifting); in Sydney we also participated in archery.
Iran cannot be active in some fields since we do not have such sports here, e.g. yachting, rugby, lawn bowling, and in some cases, Iran has not been qualified.
Iran has also achieved extraordinary victories in track & field events, shooting and power-lifting. In the women’s category, Iran has been able to compete in shooting and track & field events in Sydney. For the first time in Iran, a sportswoman, Nayyereh Akef, won a gold medal in shooting.

Shining in Sydney: Forty Iranian sportsmen and women participated in Sydney Paralympic Games, and the country ranked 16th from among 123 countries with 4,000 participants. Germany, with 262 athletes, won 15 gold medals, which is only 3 medals more what Iran has achieved, Japan with 157 athletes won only 1 more gold medal than Iran, so did South Africa and Switzerland with respectively 64 and 90 athletes, Holland got 12 gold medals which is equal to Iran’s medals.
In fact, in Sydney Games Iran achieved the best results in 20 years of its Paralympic participation. Iran has registered five new records in the track & field events. Achieving such victories was thanks mainly to proper planning which may not be possible to repeat in future games.
Iran has ranked better in each round of games. In Atlanta, Iran got a gold medal and the volleyball team became the world champion. In Sydney, Iran was again the world champion after eight unbelievable games. It was not defeated in any of the eight games. That was in the face of tough competitions in Paralympic Games. An indication of this fact is Norway which finished Second in Atlanta Games, but in Sydney it could not even qualify for the final round!

Talented Athletes: There are many talents in Iran the development of which needs more facilities and investments. The great achievements of Iran on the Paralympic scene can be attributed, among others, to the government’s investments in the disabled sports and the attention paid to the disabled by the public. However, the most important factor has been the will power of the war veterans who were disabled during the Iran-Iraq War. These people brought their will power from the war fronts to the sports fields.

Before Athens 2004: After Sydney Paralympic Games Iran would participate in international competitions based on the International Paralympic Federation’s calendar. We will naturally invest more in the fields in which Iran is to compete in Athens Paralympic Games. For each year, we are planning to take part in one international competition before Athens Games. The International Games will be held in Egypt in two years for which we should prepare ourselves. We have got the permit to hold the first round of Asian Games for the disabled in both men and women categories. With further activation of the National Paralympic Committee, IRISFD will be charged with the development of sports and holding competitions. Paralympic Games are currently held after the Olympic Games, but it is much better that both of them are held at the same time, because in that case, disabled sportsmen can be compared with others and their capabilities are truly shown to the world.