Saeid Mollaei ( fa, سعید ملایی; mn, Саид Моллай; az, Səid Mollayi) was born on January 5, 1992, in Tehran to ethnic Azerbaijani parents originally from

Khoy Khoy (Persian and az, خوی; ; ; also Romanized as Khoi), is a city and capital of Khoy County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2012 census, its population was 200,985. Khoy is located north of the province's capital and largest city ...

. In 2001, at the age of 10, he entered the Persian Gulf Judo School by Dr. Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, a judo instructor. Iranian authorities ordered Mollaei to intentionally lose in the semi-final at the Tokyo 2019 World Championships, so as to avoid a potential match in the finals against Israeli 2019 world champion

Sagi Muki Sagi Aharon Muki (or Moki; he, שגיא אהרון מוקי; born 17 May 1992) is an Israeli half-middleweight judoka. Muki is the 2019 World Champion. He also won the 2015 and 2018 European championships. In August 2011 Muki won the European ...

. In August 2019, he moved to Europe with a two-year visa from Germany, saying he was afraid to return to Iran after exposing and criticizing its pressure on him to deliberately lose in the World Championships. In December 2019, he became a citizen of Mongolia. He dedicated his 2020 Olympic medal to Mongolia and Mongol People and to Israel. From May 2022 on, Mollaei represents

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

Judo career

He won bronze medals at the 2015 and 2016 Asian Championships, and a silver medal at the 2017 edition. He was a bronze medalist at the Budapest 2017 World Championships, and a 2018 Baku World Championships gold medalist. He competed at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

in the 81 kg event, and was eliminated in the first bout by

Khasan Khalmurzaev Khasan Magometovich Khalmurzaev (russian: Хасан Магометович Халмурзаев; born 9 October 1993) is a Russian judoka. Khasan won the gold medal in the –81 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics. At the 2017 World Judo C ...

. Iranian authorities, the Iranian Sports Minister and the presidents of the Iran Judo Federation and the Iran Olympic Committee, ordered Mollaei to intentionally lose in the semi-final at the Tokyo 2019 World Championships, so as to avoid a potential match in the finals against Israeli 2019 world champion

. In reaction, saying he was afraid to return to Iran after exposing and criticizing its pressure on him to deliberately lose in the World Championships to avoid a potential bout against Muki, in August 2019 he moved to Europe with a two-year visa from Germany. Iran's actions led the

International Judo Federation The International Judo Federation (IJF) was founded in July 1951. The IJF was originally composed of judo federations from Europe and Argentina. Countries from four continents were affiliated over the next ten years. Today the IJF has 200 National ...

(IJF) to indefinitely ban Iran from competition. The IJF disciplinary commission examining the case found that Iran's actions "constitute a serious breach and gross violation of the Statutes of the IJF, its legitimate interests, its principles and objectives." The ban will last until "the Iran Judo Federation give strong guarantees and prove that they will respect the IJF Statutes and accept that their athletes fight against Israeli athletes." On 1 November 2019 Germany agreed to grant Mollaei asylum. That month, he competed as part of the IJF refugee team at the Osaka Grand Slam. Muki congratulated Mollaei on Instagram for returning to judo and participating in Osaka in his first competition since the World Championships in Tokyo, and Mollaei, in turn, thanked Muki for his support and wrote: "Good luck to you all the time, my best friend." Mollaei also posted a photo of them standing together, and wrote: "This is true friendship and a win for sports and judo over politics." On 16 November 2019, he received the Crans Montana Forum gold medal from Ambassador Jean-Paul Carteron for the difficult decision he took in Japan. The mission of the Crans Montana Forum is "Towards a more Humane World". In accepting the award, Mollaei said: "We must try to make a better world. A peaceful world, more equal, more friendly, and more fair." On 1 December 2019, Mongolian President

Khaltmaagiin Battulga Khaltmaagiin Battulga (; mn, Халтмаагийн Баттулга, Haltmaagiin Battulga, , also referred to as Battulga Khaltmaa; born 3 March 1963) is a Mongolian politician and sambo wrestler who served as the 5th President of Mongolia fr ...

(himself the chairman of Mongolian Judo Federation) offered him citizenship, which he accepted. Mollaei arrived in Israel in February 2021 to compete at the Tel Aviv Grand Prix. He represented

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

at Grand Slam Hungary 2020 and won bronze medal in –81 kg category. Mollaei trained in Israel with the Israeli national judo team in the months prior to the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. He went on to win the silver medal in the men's –81 kg event.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mollaei, Saeid 1992 births Living people Iranian male judoka Mongolian male judoka Olympic judoka of Iran Judoka at the 2016 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 2014 Asian Games Judoka at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for Iran Asian Games medalists in judo Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Sportspeople from Tehran Mongolian sportsmen World judo champions Defecting sportspeople of the Islamic Republic of Iran Iranian refugees Naturalised citizens of Mongolia Judoka at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic judoka of Mongolia Olympic medalists in judo Olympic silver medalists for Mongolia Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Islamic Solidarity Games competitors for Iran

Judo career

See also

References

External links