The Most Famous
ATHLETES from Iran
This page contains a list of the greatest Iranian Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 3,059 Athletes, 11 of which were born in Iran. This makes Iran the birth place of the 60th most number of Athletes behind Uzbekistan and Taiwan.
Top 10
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Iranian Athletes of all time. This list of famous Iranian Athletes is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Iranian Athletes.
1. Mahmoud Namjoo (1918 - 1990)
With an HPI of 45.03, Mahmoud Namjoo is the most famous Iranian Athlete. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages on wikipedia.
Mahmoud Namjoo (Persian: محمود نامجو, September 22, 1918 – January 21, 1989) was an Iranian bantamweight weightlifter. He competed at the 1948, 1952 and 1956 Olympics and placed fifth, second and third, respectively. At the world championships he won three gold, one silver and two bronze medals between 1949 and 1957, becoming the first Iranian weightlifter to win a world title. Namjoo was also the first Asian weightlifter to set a world record; during his career he set four: one in clean and jerk in 1949 and three in the total, in 1948, 1949 and 1951. Namjoo was born in Rasht in 1918 and in 1937 moved to Tehran, where he worked at a carpentry workshop. He took weightlifting in a gym nearby. Besides weightlifting he also competed in bodybuilding, and won the Mr. Universe title in his weight division in 1948, placing fifth in 1955. In 1956 he spent two months working as a weightlifting coach in Turkey. He continued training in his forties and unsuccessfully tried to qualify for the 1960 Olympics. He died of pancreatic cancer aged 70.
2. Ali Mirzaei (1929 - 2020)
With an HPI of 42.54, Ali Mirzaei is the 2nd most famous Iranian Athlete. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.
Ali Mirzaei (Persian: علی میرزایی, 28 January 1929 – 18 July 2020) was an Iranian weightlifter who competed in the 56 kg category. His greatest achievement was winning the bronze medal in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki). He won twice a medal at the World Championships. The silver medal in Milan at the 1951 World Weightlifting Championships and the bronze medal three years later in Vienna at the 1954 World Weightlifting Championships. He won the silver medal at the 1951 Asian Games. During his career Mirzaei set 1 world record.
3. Hadi Saei (1976 - )
With an HPI of 34.05, Hadi Saei is the 3rd most famous Iranian Athlete. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Hadi Saei (Persian: هادی ساعی, born June 10, 1976) is an Iranian councilor and former taekwondo athlete who became the most successful Iranian athlete in Olympic history and the most titled champion in this sport by winning 19 world class titles (three olympic titles in 2000, 2004 and 2008, two world championships titles, four world cup titles and one world olympic qualification tournament). Earlier in his career and in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Saei had won the Bronze medal. He was elected as member of City Council of Tehran in 2006 local elections and was reelected in 2013 but lost the 2017 election. He is one of the three most medal winners olympians in the sport of Taekwondo.
4. Behdad Salimi (1989 - )
With an HPI of 30.82, Behdad Salimi is the 4th most famous Iranian Athlete. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.
Behdad Salimi Kordasiabi (Persian: بهداد سلیمی كردآسیابی, born 8 December 1989) is former Iranian heavyweight weightlifter. He won gold medals at the 2012 Olympics, 2010–2018 Asian Games, 2010 and 2011 World Championships and 2009–2012 Asian Championships. He served as the flag bearer for Iran at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Asian Games.
5. Zahra Nemati (1985 - )
With an HPI of 29.52, Zahra Nemati is the 5th most famous Iranian Athlete. Her biography has been translated into 21 different languages.
Zahra Nemati (Persian: زهرا نعمتی, born 30 April 1985) is an Iranian Paralympic and Olympic archer. She originally competed in taekwondo before she was paralyzed in a car accident. At the 2012 Summer Paralympics she won two medals, an individual gold and team bronze. She has qualified to compete at both the 2016 Summer Olympics and the 2016 Summer Paralympics. She was the flag bearer at the 2016 Olympics and the postponed 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo where she shared the honour with thrower Nourmohammad Arekhi.
6. Kimia Alizadeh (1998 - )
With an HPI of 28.73, Kimia Alizadeh is the 6th most famous Iranian Athlete. Her biography has been translated into 27 different languages.
Kimia Alizadeh Zonouzi (Persian: کیمیا علیزاده زنوزی, romanized: Kīmiyā Alīzādeh Zonūzī; born 10 July 1998) is an Iranian taekwondo athlete, representing IOC Refugee Olympic Team and Bulgaria at the 2024 European Championships. Alizadeh won a bronze medal in the taekwondo 57 kg weight class at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro by defeating Swedish athlete Nikita Glasnović. This made her the first Iranian woman to win a medal at a Summer Olympics. She also won a gold medal in the women's 63-kg class at the Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games. She beat London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 gold medallist Jade Jones at the 2015 World Championship to win a bronze medal. She also won a silver medal two years later at the 2017 World Taekwondo Championships. In January 2020, Alizadeh announced that she was leaving Iran permanently for Europe. Explaining her defection, she stated, "I am one of the millions of oppressed women in Iran who they have been playing with for years." She stated she did not intend to compete for Iran in the 2020 Summer Olympics, and expressed desire to compete for her current place of residence, Germany. Having been licensed to compete in the Tokyo Olympics, she was finally represented by the Refugee Olympic Team.
7. Bahman Golbarnezhad (1968 - 2016)
With an HPI of 28.11, Bahman Golbarnezhad is the 7th most famous Iranian Athlete. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.
Bahman Golbarnezhad (Persian: بهمن گلبارنژاد, 12 June 1968 – 17 September 2016) was an Iranian Paralympic racing cyclist competing in C4 classification events and an earlier powerlifter. During his powerlifting career, he won twelve gold medals and one silver medal in international competitions. Golbarnezhad had represented Iran in two Summer Paralympic Games, first in 2012 in London and later in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. He was the only Iranian cyclist at the 2016 Paralympics. He was a veteran of the Iran–Iraq war. On 17 September 2016, Golbarnezhad died in an accident which occurred during the 2016 Summer Paralympics' men's C4-5 road cycling event.
8. Kianoush Rostami (1991 - )
With an HPI of 27.83, Kianoush Rostami is the 8th most famous Iranian Athlete. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.
Kianoush Rostami (Persian: کیانوش رستمی, born 23 July 1991) is an Iranian Olympian weightlifter. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics, in the 85 kg event, winning the gold medal and setting a new world record with a total lift of 396 kilograms. Rostami won the silver medal at the London 2012 Summer Olympics. He originally took home the bronze medal, which ascended to a silver medal when Apti Aukhadov tested positive for dehydrochloromethyltestosterone from samples taken in 2012. Despite having the third highest total at 96kg in Olympic qualifying, Rostami failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games, as he sat 31st in the ROBI point rankings because he scored zero points in the second qualification period (1 May 2019 to 31 October 2019) of the 2020 Olympics after missing all three lifts in the snatch portion of the 2019 World Weightlifting Championships.
9. Ehsan Haddadi (1985 - )
With an HPI of 27.80, Ehsan Haddadi is the 9th most famous Iranian Athlete. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.
Ehsan Haddadi (Persian: احسان حدادی, born January 20, 1985, in Tehran) is a former Iranian discus thrower. His height is 193 cm and his weight is 127 kg. The 2004 Asian Junior Champion, he won a gold medal at the 2004 World Junior Championships In Grosseto, the inaugural Iranian to win a medal at any global athletics competition. In 2005 he won the Asian Championships in Incheon with a throw of 65.25 metres. In December 2006, he added another gold medal to his record, winning the title at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar. In 2007, he won the Asian Championships in Amman and defended his title. His personal best throw is 69.32 m, achieved on June 3, 2008, in Tallinn, Estonia. This is the current Asian record. Because of his good performance over the whole season 2008, he was considered a medal contender entering the 2008 Summer Olympics, but he ranked 17th with a 61.34-meter throw and failed to qualify for the final; Haddadi blamed his poor results on his injuries. After more than a year's absence due to shoulder surgery, In November 2009, he won his third in a row continental title in Guangzhou. After winning 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou and 2011 Asian Championship in Kobe, Haddadi made history by becoming the first Iranian athlete to win a medal at IAAF World Championships in Athletics, he won bronze in 2011 World Championships in Athletics in Daegu. Haddadi competed and won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics with a 68.18 m throw. Iranian athletes have participated in the Olympic Games since 1948 and before Haddadi's silver medal, had only attained medals in wrestling, Olympian weightlifting, and taekwondo. His achievement was a milestone in Iran's Olympic history in that it ended Iran's 64-year-old medal drought in events other than the aforementioned. Haddadi offered his silver medal to children with cancer, and travelled to Azerbaijan to gather funds for the 2012 earthquakes' victims. On 27 March 2020, Haddadi announced he tests positive for COVID-19 during the pandemic in Iran.
10. Milad Beigi (1991 - )
With an HPI of 23.13, Milad Beigi is the 10th most famous Iranian Athlete. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.
Milad Beigi Harchegani (Persian: میلاد بیگی هرچگانی, Azerbaijani: Milad Beygi Hərçigani; born 1 March 1991 in Booshehr) is an Iranian-born naturalized Azerbaijani taekwondo practitioner who won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Harchegani is of Qashqai ancestry. In February 2015, Beigi won the −80 kg gold medal in 26th Fajr Cup for Iran's B team. He was considered among Iran's prospects in 2015 World Taekwondo Championships, but it was declared that he had been replaced due to "injury" despite allegations that he has left threatening to acquire citizenship in another country. He was named the Male Most Valuable Player at the 2015 World Cup Team Championships. He won a bronze medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics after beating Piotr Pazinsky in the bronze medal match.
Pantheon has 11 people classified as athletes born between 1918 and 1998. Of these 11, 8 (72.73%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living athletes include Hadi Saei, Behdad Salimi, and Zahra Nemati. The most famous deceased athletes include Mahmoud Namjoo, Ali Mirzaei, and Bahman Golbarnezhad. As of April 2022, 2 new athletes have been added to Pantheon including Mahmoud Namjoo and Ali Mirzaei.
Living Athletes
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Hadi Saei
1976 - Present
HPI: 34.05
Behdad Salimi
1989 - Present
HPI: 30.82
Zahra Nemati
1985 - Present
HPI: 29.52
Kimia Alizadeh
1998 - Present
HPI: 28.73
Kianoush Rostami
1991 - Present
HPI: 27.83
Ehsan Haddadi
1985 - Present
HPI: 27.80
Milad Beigi
1991 - Present
HPI: 23.13
Mohammad Bagheri Motamed
1986 - Present
HPI: 22.96
Deceased Athletes
Go to all RankingsMahmoud Namjoo
1918 - 1990
HPI: 45.03
Ali Mirzaei
1929 - 2020
HPI: 42.54
Bahman Golbarnezhad
1968 - 2016
HPI: 28.11
Newly Added Athletes (2022)
Go to all RankingsWhich Athletes were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 3 most globally memorable Athletes since 1700.
