Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Birth name | Gholamreza Takhti | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname(s) | Jahān Pahlevān | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | Iranian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ethnicity | Iranian Azerbaijani | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born |
Tehran, Iran |
August 27, 1930|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | January 7, 1968 Tehran, Iran |
(aged 37)|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Resting place | Ibn Babawayh Cemetery, Rey, Iran | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Years active | 1950–1966 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 79 kg (174 lb) to 97 kg (214 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Wrestling | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | Freestyle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Club | Poulad Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
World finals |
1951 World Championships: Freestyle 79kg – Silver 1954 World Championships: Freestyle 87kg – 5th 1959 World Championships: Freestyle 87kg – Gold 1961 World Championships: Freestyle 87kg – Gold 1962 World Championships: Freestyle 97kg – Silver |
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Regional finals |
1958 Asian Games: Freestyle 87kg – Gold |
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National finals |
Pahlevan of Iran (3): 1336, 1337, 1338 |
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Olympic finals |
1952 Summer Olympics: |
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Medal record
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1952 Summer Olympics:
Freestyle 79kg – Silver
1956 Summer Olympics: Freestyle 87kg – Gold
1960 Summer Olympics: Freestyle 87kg – Silver
Gholamreza Takhti (Persian: غلامرضا تختی, August 27, 1930 – January 7, 1968) was an Iranian Olympic Gold-Medalist wrestler and Varzesh-e Bastani practitioner. Popularly nicknamed Jahān Pahlevān ("The World Champion") because of his chivalrous behavior and sportsmanship (Javanmardi in Iranian culture), he was the most popular athlete of Iran in the 20th century, although dozens of Iranian athletes have won more international medals than he did. Takhti is still a hero to many Iranians. He is listed in the FILA wrestling hall of fame.
Takhti, the youngest child of an Iranian Azerbaijani family was born in Khaniabad neighborhood of south Tehran. on August 27, 1930. At the age of 15, he entered Poulad Club in Southern Tehran and was trained in wrestling. He soon left Tehran to become a manual laborer in the oil-rich city of Masjed Soleiman. When he was called up for military service, his potential in wrestling was discovered and he began to train seriously soon after he was recruited as an Iran Railways employee in 1948.
Takhti won his first Iranian championship in 1950, and on his first trip abroad in 1951, he won a silver medal at the world freestyle championships in Helsinki - the first international medal ever gained by an Iranian wrestler. One year later in 1952, he won another silver medal again in Helsinki, this time in 1952 Summer Olympics.