Jalal Ali "Joe" Kashmiri, better known as Jalal Keshmiri ( fa, جلال کشمیری, b. 25 March 1938 – d. 6 February 1999) was an Iranian

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

ter and

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

er. Between 1966 and 1974 he won two gold, three silver and one bronze medal in these events at the Asian Games. He competed in the discus at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

and placed 20th.

Biography

Keshmiri started as an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

goalkeeper. During one game, a practicing athlete threw a discus that almost hit Keshmiri's head. Angry Keshmiri threw it back and was noticed by the athletics coach. By the age of 19 he switched from football to athletics. In the 1970s he studied physical education at

University of Nevada The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant ...

, United States, graduating with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in 1974. By that time Iranian officials considered him an American citizen and excluded him from the 1972 Olympic team. After moving to the United States, he went by the name Joe Keshmiri. Keshmiri at age 30 (1968) competed for Nevada college in SP and DT. Competing in the masters division, he briefly held the masters M60 world record in the shot put. He has held the M60 American record in the discus throw since 1998. He died from cancer in Reno, Nevada, aged 60. Keshmiri married in Iran in 1965 and had two sons: Kamal (Kamy) and Jamal (Jamy). Kamy became an American discus thrower.

References

1939 births 1999 deaths Iranian male shot putters Iranian male discus throwers Olympic athletes of Iran Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for Iran Asian Games silver medalists for Iran Asian Games bronze medalists for Iran Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1966 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1970 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1974 Asian Games Medalists at the 1966 Asian Games Medalists at the 1970 Asian Games Medalists at the 1974 Asian Games 20th-century Iranian people {{Iran-athletics-bio-stub