Mohammad Reza Babulfath (born November 17, 1978, in
Tehran, Iran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most pop ...
) is a retired amateur Iranian Swedish Greco-Roman wrestler, who competed in the men's middleweight category.
Babulfath obtained a fourth position in the 74-kg division at the 2003 European Championships in
Riga, Latvia
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava (river), Daugava river where ...
, and also represented his naturalized homeland
Sweden at the
2004 Summer Olympics. Before his sporting career ended in 2008, Babulfath trained for
Spårvägens Sports Club ( sv, Spårvägens Idrottsällskap) in
Stockholm, under Polish-born personal coach Ryszard Swierad.
Babulfath qualified for his naturalized Swedish squad in the
men's 74 kg class at the
2004 Summer Olympics in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
. Earlier in the process, he placed third from the Olympic Qualification Tournament in
Novi Sad
Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...
,
Serbia and Montenegro to guarantee a spot on Sweden's Olympic wrestling team. He lost his opening match 4–0 to Germany's
Konstantin Schneider and endured a daunting 9–0 defeat from eventual Olympic bronze medalist
Varteres Samurgashev of Russia, that left him severely injured and unable to compete against Ukraine's
Volodymyr Shatskykh
Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Shatskykh (born 2 July 1981 in Molodohvardiysk, Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ...
on his final bout of the prelim pool. Placing him at the bottom of the pool and last out of 20 wrestlers in the final standings, Babulfath failed to advance to the quarterfinals.
Babulfath also sought to compete on his second bid for the
2008 Summer Olympics, but missed a spot from the Olympic Qualification Tournament and suddenly retired from his sporting career. Currently, he serves as an assistant coach for IK Sparta in
Stockholm and trains for numerous Swedish wrestlers, including fellow Olympian
Ara Abrahamian
Ara Abrahamian ( hy , Արա Աբրահամյան; born 27 July 1975) is an Armenian-Swedish wrestler in Greco-Roman wrestling. He has won two World Championships in the 76 kg and 84 kg weight classes and a silver medal at the 2004 S ...
.
References
External links
*
1978 births
Living people
Swedish male sport wrestlers
Olympic wrestlers for Sweden
Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Iranian emigrants to Sweden
Sport wrestlers from Tehran
Sportspeople from Stockholm
Olympic competitors from Iran who represented other countries
{{Sweden-wrestling-bio-stub