24 July 2008 - 01H35
'Iranian Hercules' out of Olympic Games
Twice Olympic champion Hossein Rezazadeh has been forced to pull out of this year's Olympic Games. The "Iranian Hercules" has bowed to his doctor's advice, telling him not to carry out any "heavy and stressful activity".
Twice Olympic champion Hossein Rezazadeh will not compete in the Beijing Games after doctors told him not to carry out "heavy and stressful activity", an Iranian news agency reported on Wednesday.
"I am sure that my young friends are very well able to repeat the national honour in the 2008 Olympic Games and therefore I accept the doctors' suggestion," Rezazadeh was quoted as saying in statement by the ISNA news agency.
State television carried a similar report.
Rezazadeh, known as the "Iranian Hercules", won Olmpic gold in the 105 kg category in Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004) and wsa named the World's Best Weightlifter by the International Weightlifting Federation in 2000, 2002 and 2004.
He suffered a knee injury last year after a car accident, which had prevented him from taking part in international competitions.
In a letter written to Rezazadeh, the head of Iran's weightlifting federation, Bahram Afsharzadeh, said the Iranian weightlifter should "pay attention to the suggestion of the doctors and the experts" who have told him not to do any "heavy and stressful activity", ISNA reported.
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