Asian Games last week, pulling down more golds than any other country—just as long as you don’t count China, Japan and South Korea, the totally dominant trio that gathered more than two-thirds of all the gold medals themselves.
Iran accumulated 20 gold medals, one of which went to a woman who promptly charged the male leadership of Iranian sports with cheating her by denying her the free home she said all athletes were promised if they won gold.
The promise of a free apartment had not been revealed before by the sports federations. Khadijeh Azadpur, 22, told the website Tebyan that after she won a gold medal she was told she would have to get married first to get the promised home. Azadpur won gold for her performance in wushu, the Chinese martial art.
Of Iran’s 20 golds, eight were in Iran’s traditional top sports, wrestling and weight-lifting. Another eight were in the Far Eastern martial arts that have attracted many Iranians in recent years—wushu, taekwondo and karate. The remaining four were in other areas: discus, kayak, rowing and a foot race.
Altogether, 36 countries of the 42 participating won medals. By the traditional medal ranking, where the number of golds determines the ranking, Iran came in fourth, after the Dominant Trio. Based on total number of medals, Iran was seventh, behind the Dominant Trio, Kazakhstan, Taiwan and India. Based on a point system of awarding three points for gold, two for silver and one for bronze, Iran ended up fifth, behind the Dominant Trio and Kazakhstan.
Here are the top teams, according to the traditional medal ranking: Country G S B Tot China 199 119 98 416 S.Korea 76 65 91 232 Japan 48 74 94 216 Iran 20 14 25 59 Kazakh. 18 23 38 79 India 14 17 33 64 Taiwan 13 16 38 67 Uzbek. 11 22 23 56 Thailand 11 9 32 52 The Dominant Trio got 55 percept of all the medals in the games and 68 percent of all the golds. Iran got 4 percent of all the medals and 4 percent of all the golds. According to the Mehr news agency, Iran’s medal haul at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, was its biggest haul since 1975 Asian Games, which were hosted by Iran The one female gold medallist for Iran said, “Before I left [Tehran], they promised to give me a home if I won a gold medal. They said, ‘After you return, you will get the keys to the apartment at the airport.’ But, unfortunately, it didn’t happen. After following up, they said that the conditions had changed and only if I get married will I get the apartment.” She said such shuffles can only damage the morale of athletes and made her reconsider whether she wants to continue competing in wushu. She said she worked hard for her medal, training over nine months.