Death of Iranian Strongman

[Randall Strossen]

Anybody following this?

http://www.smh.com.au/world/strongman-dies-in-revenge-attack-20110719-1hn5u.html

[Kim Wood]

yes, I am following it. Has anybody reported the
Strongman "world championships" on the
Island of Kish? and what has happened to that giant
Olympic lifter from Iran, Randy?

[Randall Strossen]

yes, I am following it. Has anybody reported the
Strongman "world championships" on the
Island of Kish? and what has happened to that giant
Olympic lifter from Iran, Randy?

Kim -

There is a troubled history for these strongman contests on Kish:

http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2007/Mar/World_Strongman_Cup_Iran_Stage_Cancelled.html

(http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2007/Mar/World_Strongman_Cup_Iran_Stage_Cancelled.html)http ://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2007/Mar/xPlease_Tell_The_World_We_Need_Helpx.html

(http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Articles/2007/Mar/xPlease_Tell_The_World_We_Need_Helpx.html)When IronMind ran that second story, I was told that it was picked up by TV stations in Norway, for example, such was its impact beyond the specialized strength world.


Interesting that you asked about Hossein Rezazadeh, the two-time Olympic gold medalist (superheavyweight) in weightlifting, because it's another example of how sports and politics can get intertwined: In the March 2011 issue of MILO, you might have noticed a photo of him (now retired and president of the Iranian Weightlifting Federation) chatting chummily with Iranian Executive Vice President Ali Seedlou at the Asian Games. I was told that Hossein Rezazadeh is very well connected with the established political powers and therefore is very unpopular with the people, so you can see what a tug of war it is over there.

[Mike Corlett]

Anybody following this?

http://www.smh.com.au/world/strongman-dies-in-revenge-attack-20110719-1hn5u.html

I found the article about as interesting as anything I have seen.

You have three assassins crashing right into a car, and then they take 40 minutes of fighting and stabbing before the guy dies, in the Capital of a Country? Where were the police for 30 minutes? If they were assassins, why wouldn't they use guns and make their escape?

That is "News of the Weird". I must be missing something.

[Kim Wood]

"death by a thousand cuts"! Oh yeah, they use it often
over there...

[Alexander Parkhomenko]

Ruhollah Dadashi was stabbed to death by three assailants after a head-on collision in Tehran last week.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8645468/Irans-strongest-man-killed-in-revenge-attack.html

[Mike Corlett]

Ruhollah Dadashi was stabbed to death by three assailants after a head-on collision in Tehran last week.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/8645468/Irans-strongest-man-killed-in-revenge-attack.html

Thanks for posting.

I still am not clear. Was Dadashi confronted after an "accident", and then the 3 guys recognized him, and decided to kill him? Or was it pre-meditated?
Since I was wondering why no guns were involved, perhaps if they were "martial artists", they thought they could get in and get out fast without it looking like an assasination.

[Kim Wood]

Mike, the word is that they were Iranian ninja midgets!
OK, I'm kidding...but what is of interest here is the
political involvement of athletes...and in many parts of
the world, the criminal involvement of athletes(in some parts of the world "criminal" and "political" are the same thing!). A few years
back the New York Times had an article about the Bulgarian
mob and their enforcers who were called "The Wrestlers"...
and the reason they were called "The Wrestlers" was that most
of these thugs had been on the Bulgarian Olympic wrestling
team! That opens things up for a discussion of "strength
athletes" who are/have been involved in political/gangster
activities. (Randy, didn't Soviet Olympic lifter- giant Pissarenko
do prison time for illicit inter-national drug trafficking? )...

[Randall Strossen]

Mike, the word is that they were Iranian ninja midgets!
OK, I'm kidding...but what is of interest here is the
political involvement of athletes...and in many parts of
the world, the criminal involvement of athletes(in some parts of the world "criminal" and "political" are the same thing!). A few years
back the New York Times had an article about the Bulgarian
mob and their enforcers who were called "The Wrestlers"...
and the reason they were called "The Wrestlers" was that most
of these thugs had been on the Bulgarian Olympic wrestling
team! That opens things up for a discussion of "strength
athletes" who are/have been involved in political/gangster
activities. (Randy, didn't Soviet Olympic lifter- giant Pissarenko
do prison time for illicit inter-national drug trafficking? )...


Kim -

Yes about the Bulgarian wrestlers and for anyone who's not familiar with all of this, the book McMafia might be an interesting read. Anatoli Pisarenko and Alexander Kurlovich were caught smuggling steroids into Canada in 1985 - neither did jail time. You don't want to mess around with any of these guys.