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When David fell to Goliath
The Story of Gholamreza Takhti The Persian Jahan Pahlavan
| Gholamreza Takhti was born
in Tehran on September 27, 1930, the fifth child of a working class
family. As a young teenager Gholamreza trained at the Poolad club,
a makeshift sports hall in the southern part of Tehran but despite
his natural talents as a sportsman, especially the traditional zoorkhane
(Persian bodybuilding routine) he soon had to leave Tehran to work
as an oil worker in the Khuzestan region. After being drafted into
the army he was introduced to freestyle wrestling, He won his first
Iranian cham-pionship in 1950, and became the first Iranian wrestler
to win an international medal when he gained silver in the World Cham-pionships
at Helsinki in 1951, followed by silver at the Helsinki Olympics.
Later he won gold in the 1956 Olympics and the 1959 World championships.
Takhti became a supporter of popular Iranian Prime Minister, Mohammad
Mossadegh and with the fall of Mossadegh, Takhti fell out of favor
with the Shah and his court. The Shah's secret service, the Savak,
followed Takhti's every move and was very aware of his Growing popularity.
Realizing that Takhti was attaining the status of a legend, the
Savak arranged for inclusion of Takhti in the 1964 Olympics and
1966 World Championships teams, hoping that if he failed to gain
a medal, his popularity would diminish. Despite his unsuccessful
attempts at those events, Takhti could do no wrong as far as the
Iranian popu-lation was concerned and remained as popular as ever.
To the Iranians, Takhti was their Jahan Pahlavan. There are folkloric
stories abound in the Persian culture about bigger than life champions
of the good cause who are lovingly referred to as Pahlavan. Legendary
Pahlavans stood up to unfair rulers despite danger to themselves
to defend righteousness.
Pahlavans
are the Persian Davids to their Goliaths. Takhti was the embodiment
of that wonderful tradition of Iranian "Fotovat" which
is a mixture of unabashed masculinity and socially conscious
chivalry. Takhti had now become such a figure and the Savak
had to put an end to it.
To the man on the street, Takhti remained an icon. His legend
grew through the years and recollection of his deeds only added
to his mystique. The famous Iranian weight lifter Salmasi remembers
one such chivalry. In the opening day Takhti gave up his responsibility
of carrying the flag and gave it to Salmasi as a gesture of
respect to Salmasi who had been brought to the Olympics as Iran's
weightlifting coach.In his own words to a reporter three years
ago, Salmasi recollects that day: "Yes Agha [Sir in Persian],
I was standing toward the end in the Iranian group. We are waiting
for our turn to enter the Rome Stadium. I am a short guy and
I was almost lost in the Iranian delegation.Suddenly I saw Pahlevan
Takhti coming toward me with the flag in his hand. |
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He practically dragged me to the front and handed me the flag and
said 'Sir, as long as you are here with us I will not allow myself
to carry this sacred flag. You are an Olympic veteran and because
of the respect and honor we owe you, it is you who should carry
this flag not me!' "He then stood behind me and I carried the
flag into the Stadium. I will never forget that moment and Pahlevan
Takhti's sense of urgency to hand me the flag."
Takhti's lifeless body was found On January 8, 1968 at the Atlantic
Hotel in Tehran. Once the official cause of death was labeled as
a suicide there were riots in front of the coroners office in Tehran.
It was widely held that, unable to damage his image, the Savak silenced
him forever by assassinating him.
The court spin masters had a different story to circulate. In a
page from his memoirs, Asadollah Alam, a long time Minister in the
Shah's court, recalls how the Shah was upset when even after his
death, Takhti had remained a celebrity and legend to the people.
Alam states that Takhti had been "unable to cope with his loss
of popularity and had been embarrassed about his support for the
failed Mossadegh regime, leading him to decide on suicide".
Whatever actually happened to Takhti, the Iranians never forgave
the Shah's government for killing their Pahlavan and never forgot
his memory.
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