How to shut up haters the right way…
Here is Mart Seim’s 253kg Clean & Jerk PR in front of an unbelievably disrespectful Iranian crowd at the 2017 World Weightlifting Championships in Anaheim, USA.
Follow Mart on Instagram @martseim.
Just like in Rio they were butthurt over the jury’s (correct) decision to red light Salimi’s lifts.
Mart told me that before the lift, when he walked on stage he thought “not again, … Rio flashback”. He tried to focus on a clean lift as he missed his 251kg attempt before that. The 253kg secured his clean and jerk silver medal over Iran’s Saeid Alihosseini.
Mart was furious. He said “Of course I was angry! Weightlifting fans used to be polite.”
After the competition some Iranian fans came up to him and apologized for their behaviour, saying that they weren’t booing him. This obviously completely misses the point as the damage was already done (Rustam Djangabaev missed his attempt).
What do you think?
In european football, when “fans” misbehave the clubs get punished. I think IWF should consider the same for Iran.
By the way the audio in the video doesn’t really do it justice. It was insanely loud during his attempt.
More:
Not only the Iranian Federation for the supporter’s behaviour, but also Salimi should be personally sanctioned for removing his medals, as if meaning that the IWF and the other athletes rightly deserve such treatment.
It’s unfortunate,
At the 2015 worlds, it wasn’t as aggressive but it was still noticeable. As a fan of the sport, I feel it’s a tertiary point as where the athlete is from if you enjoy the lifting of that particular athlete. N. Korean, S. Korean or Greek, Turkish or Armenian and Azerbaijan. The nationality didn’t seem to have a bias until recently in terms of my applause and admiration of that athlete. Now, there a sense of resentment. As an observer of some geopolitics, it appears that Iran is isolated to a certain degree. Although there is a pride of being Iranian that can be perceived by outsiders to be defiant. I’m not saying that patriotism is causing harm, although creating an environment whereas other countries aren’t given the same respect will be something that will be remembered over the next few championships. I have the sense that the jury will be hypercritical of the Iranian Team in upcoming competitions, which at that time may be unfair. Honestly I love watching Iranian’s lift because they lift with their hearts. Sometimes the first attempt looks like 103% effort. They are Fighters on the platform.
Remember Rim Jong Sim? No one in the audience seem to care about the political environment, as much as we were all astounded as to her fight on that platform. What I’m getting to is that, the audience will appreciate the effort, because they are there to watch the SPORT. We want to see the fight, the strategy, and the athletes to success to the best the opportunity allows.
As I mentioned earlier, I feel the penalty for the country is the memory of the jury. Which I feel can create further conflict down the road.
Maybe, who know? This is just speculation and this is off the top of my head. Not interested in creating a political debate here. I am curious to see how this unfolds.
Absolutely agree with the article, and the first comment.
The iranian fans should be banned from the next WC, as well as the next olympics.
And Salimi should definately get punished, the crap he pulled at Rio should have been enough already.
This boorish behavior needs to be stopped at once. Salami knows very well what the etiquette is during such important events but he also chose to follow the crowd by removing his bronze medal during the award ceremony.
The Iranian fans can protest shortly after a lift but their continued disruption during the last two but very important lifts tells me that only a stiff fine or suspension will get the message to them.
I remember seeing this kind of behaviour back in 1994 in Istambul ,Turkey. The biggest event was of course the first big battle between Suleymanoglu and Leonidis. The Turkish crowd was acting the same way as Iranians are nowadays. Next day Suleymanoglu went out on the platform and told off the Turkish fans for acting like disrespectful idiots. I don’t agree with a fine. That can be easily paid and then things can go on as usual. My verdict would be definitely a ban for Iran for at least a year. I didn’t know about Salimi’s medal removal ,but now that I do I would ban him too. It’s already getting tiring to see him doing his half good jerks that are always questionable anyway. All in all I find it disgusting that some people grow up believing that if something is not for their taste they can hoot until they get what they want like babies. If the IWF let them keep doing it they will ruin the future competitions too.
Ohh yes ,Mart’s c&j was awesome! I saw the moment when he got pissed,and put everything into the effort. it was priceless! 🙂
i think referees should stop the competition if the correct conditions are not there, as for a tennis match !
Agreed, this is not acceptable
agreed this is not acceptable.
Iranian Fans to be banned , even Salimi for at least one year.
But the rest of the team , no. No need to be banned.
I am really disappointed with this unbelievable behavior. Nothing can justify this behavior.
Another things:
Iran as a powerful weightlifting country with numerous world champions, still doesn’t have anybody in IWF , even as a judge or Jury member.
I think the 252 was correct. A lot of top lifters and judges approved it during the competition and after that.
Think about this as well. What do you think?
this is not acceptable, that’s a fact.
but you can’t blame the athlete or the federation. do you think every federation should put a cop or some kind of threat on every fan ?
i humbly think it should start with the IWF, they have to figure out a way to allow the athletes to compete in fair conditions, that’s the most important.
since everybody has their opinion i’m gonna say they should have paused the competition, and wait for the silence to come back, not force the athlete to lift with this noise …
You can very, very much blame the athlete who removes-refuses his-her medals. Likewise, you can blame the Federation who doesn’t step in, someone should at the very least tried to silence the crowd. The IWF already has “a way to allow the athletes to compete in fair conditions” that’s the IWF rulebook. Everybody’s opinion belongs to post-competition talks. The IWF doesn’t “force the athlete to lift with this noise”. The ill-behaved crowd does. The IWF is not expected to need to tell anybody how to behave at a competition, that kind of thing should be taught and learned at kindergarten level.
” that kind of thing should be taught and learned at kindergarten level. ”
people with common sense would agree 🙂
but fans are not athletes, they don’t depend on the federation of their country.
and i definitely agree that someone should silence the crowd or make some kind of effort to bring calm, that’s why i was merely suggesting the IWF could think about something in their rules.
Weightlifting is not a populor sport, if you prevent supporters from coming or restric access, it would be event less motivating.
as for the athlete behaviour, i’m on his side, they should cut him some slack. high lvl sport is hard, they have their mood, they’re disappointed …it’s not the military with salute and staying stiff as a pole etc.
he was unhappy it happens, i don’t want him to be a machine and act like nothing happened. i mean he respected the law, didnt insult anyone (or worse), i’m fine with it, people are allowed to be unhappy
Its because weightlifting isn’t a popular sport that you should be even more cautious. Do you want the sport to be known as a place where “trash people” attend? Without any sort of control, whos going to stop any crowd/nation from acting the same way? And then you’d end up with a live crowd who does nothing but scream at the athletes.
You want to allow their presence just because you want a higher attendance? Its a sport that used to be perceived with a certain degree of respect and dignity and every person at the event represents the sport in a way.
From a neutral point of view, its difficult not to frown upon the entire sport – The Iranian “fans”/crowd has a horrendous behavior, IWF are incompetent (no interventions), and if you judge by Salimi’s behavior including the barbell toss in the practice room then the “athletes” are “disrespectful”. With no intervention of any of these parameters, how do you intend to improve on the sport in any way? You want the youth to be a part of that shit show as it is now?
Your last remark is pointless, yes as a human you can be unhappy but when you’re an athlete – you are at WORK, and at WORK you act the way the standard tells you to, apparently except in weightlifting where no one gives a fck. You’re supposed to act professional (especially if you’re a role model) and Salimi sure isn’t acting the way professional weightlifters are supposed to behave (statistically speaking).
To reiterate: Like anything else, sanctions are needed in order to acquire control before it turns into an even larger circus show.
some comments and the whole article is nonsense, this is not a home and away competition, the Iranian federation has no responsibility over the fans. most of them were not weightlifting fan and had never been to a weightlifting competition before and most probably don’t know the culture in this sport. that was rude indeed but if you remove ordinary fans, you can lift in empty stadiums which happens in most of weightlifting comeptitions. someone had to stop the competition and tell them to be quiet. Iran was not hosting the event, not their responsibility. this is not soccer where fans are representing a certain club.
so only Salimi in the world is not lifting perfectly ? Talakhadze 220kg was OK ? not a fan of him because of his character but they accepted much worse lifts. this is obviously personal now.
btw Salimi himself is seriously considering retirement since he is tired of this shit . so you can celebrate that.
These “fans” knew exactly what they were doing.
They knew how to behave during all the other lifts and then suddenly forgot how to?
This is exactly like soccer. These guys were representing Iran at that point and made their country look ridiculous.
I was happy to see Iranian fans afterwards who had the guts to condemn their country men’s (& women’s) shameful behaviour.
Your post is bollocks and your attitude is trash. Just because Iranian federation isn’t hosting the event they should feel free to allow people with Iranian descent, carrying Iranian flags, perhaps even related to the athletes, to allow to sabotage an event and everyone should rely on the incompetence of IWF to step in? How do you think their image is reflected if nothing is done to condemn those actions? If you’re silent about it, you’re basically accepting that behavior. And now you propose to let them off the hook only to exemplify how not only the Iranians but everyone can sabotage future events if they feel like it?
I will give you credit in regards to a lot the responsibility lies on IWF and their lack of intervention. IWF should have gotten their finger out of their arse and made new rules in terms of conduct after what occurred in Rio, all sports have a sports-etiquette and rules that enforce them. Its pathetic to allow such mongrel-like behavior, twice even.
Soccer matches are difficult in terms of the size and ofc hooligans but in smaller size like Tennis, you make noise and your ass is thrown out. This train of thought is what I believe is needed to preserve the dignity weightlifting still has.
Like in my earlier post, sanctions are needed but not necessarily upon an entire nation – they need to address the individuals and in this case its like 85% of the Iranian “fans”. Any noise/booing henceforth? Get guards to throw their ass out immediately. Rude behavior should not be tolerated in the hall of elite athletes.
Lasha’s 220kg was definitely not okay but thats a part of a broken system and an entire different discussion. If it mean so much then the Iranian coaches could have complained about it like in Beijing with Lu Yong vs Andrei Rybakou. Salimi just haven’t learned from Rio and allegedly too arrogant to face the realities in front of him.
There was a similar audience situation in 2005, Doha, Qatar. Rezazadeh vs. Chigishev, where Chigi had the performance of his life. But for almost every lift he performed, there was unwelcome audience participation– distractions, hooting, ill-timed applause. And of course when Rezazadeh lifted, there was every bit of respectful silence where silence was due.
The individual athlete should not be sanctioned for the audience’s behavior. Fan responsibility cannot rest on the team, that’d welcome all sorts of potential sabotage. The individual athlete should be sanctioned, or warned, for unsportsmanlike conduct, which a refusal of the bronze medal arguably could be deemed.
You could reverse responsibilities. Misbehaving fans could as a collective be informed, and then firmly warned, that their team will be punished if such conduct continues during the competition. This would motivate the athletes to calm their fans, and hopefully spur the level-headed audience members to calm their fellow countrymen.
All in all, IWF needs to plan for this eventuality in the future. Once is unfortunate; twice is cause for concern; three times is a habit that must be stopped.
I do not agree with the statement “the Iranian federation has no responsibility over the fans”. Country federation HAS responsibility over the fans if the meet is in their country. It is the fact that there are lots of Iranian origins (US residents) live in Anaheim and Orange county. This means technically US Federation is responsible for the fans misbehaving.
I agree on “IWF needs to plan for this eventuality in the future. Once is unfortunate; twice is cause for concern; three times is a habit that must be stopped.” IWF should come up with a protocol now that the smallest movement in hands nullifies the lift. Guess where the championship is going to be next year, Ashgabat (city of lovers) in Turkmenistan!
Hi everyone
I as a Iranian feel so ashamed by the way Iranian fans behaved. Boo the referee OK no problem but to continue while Lash and mart was doing their lift is so disrespectful and uncharacteristically Iranian. In Iran I cannot even remember one incident like this. These were mostly Iranian fans living outside of Iran and resident of the hosting country. I should however mention they were not booing the lifters but the referee but still they should consider how their behaviours looks like to other. It was disgraceful and I would like to apologise on behalf of all Iranian for their terrible behaviour.
onto weightlifting issues,
Unfortunately Salami has not still recovered from his injury fully as admited by his staff and still plagued by it and it has affected his confidence severely. He was not ready for the competition and Alihoseini has only returned to weightlifting for 8 months and needs more time before he reaches his potential and its clear he is reaching his age limit for this sport even though he has and had so much potential. Unfortunately bad management at the Iranian weightlifting federation over the last 5 years has destroyed Iran’s weightlifting potential and talent. Fortunately Iran has some VERY young talented heavy weight lifters that should be ready n 2-3 years time and has me so excited for the future. Behdad still has the ability to match Lasha if he gets his head and coaching correct. He needs a year off from competition to regain his confidence because in training he has lifted 220kg snatch and 260 easily but he cant seem to peform on stage. The next few years should be interesting in the heavy weight division. Specially as when the Russians return.
Now to the the judging, i think its overly harsh and if Lasha 220kg to me was legitimate but according to the rules used on behdad his lift had inconsistencies that could be used to disqualify the lift. Its bad that judges have personal agenda and I really would like to know who is running the drug testing routine for these athletes, you can tell they are taking steroids from a mile away, how are they all not getting caught. It would seem that getting caught is dependent on when they want you to get caught and for political reasons both sports related and politically related. Very sad things have come to this in the sports. I really think they should just allow steroids full stop, what’s the point, nearly every athlete in the Olympics is taking some for of performance enhancing chemicals.
To my Iranian brothers and sisters this behaviours of booing athlete has to stop its insulting our 5000year culture, you are representing Iran and Iranians at these events. If you are displeased with something then try and follow the relevant procedures in place to peruse your complaint legitimately and not resorting to emotional booing.
thanks all
Do you have the names of the young lifters on the rise you mentioned?
I don’t know anybody except than Ali Davoodi;
Nationality Iran
Born March 22, 1999 (age 18)
Weight 150.03 kg (330.8 lb)
Personal best(s)
Snatch: 187 kg (2017)
Clean and jerk: 220 kg (2017)
Total: 391 kg (2017)
he is the only one who may take a place in the future.
Bahador Molaie is coming back as well while he is 26 years old.
Personal best(s)
Snatch: 203 kg (2013)
Clean and jerk: 255 kg (2013)
Total: 458 kg (2013)
If we see him again there is a chance to see new C&J record.
Still Lasha is the best one even in C&J.
Ali Davoudi set the best PRs as below two days ago:
Snach. 191
C&J: 231
Total : 422
Good numbrs for him
He has enough time to break junior world records in +105.
Jirka Orsag with his last video of the Road to Usa series, some very interesting bits he covers in this one (worth listening to if anyone understands czech). And you can count him in the group of people not too excited about the fans at the 105+ competition, he talks about it here: https://youtu.be/eOzeiATJPfA?t=7m45s
All that more unfortunate since he says all the competitors are just ok, including Salimi according to Jirka. If only all their fans were too.
One more funny tidbit from the interview 😀
https://youtu.be/eOzeiATJPfA?t=13m27s
When talking about the gym he grew up in, where he still sometimes trains (besides obviously Czech olympic training center), he notices: “It is not some fine scented gym where metrosexuals would go training, But when you come you meet people who train there wtih pleasure, they enjoy it, dont act up, just want to work hard. And the training itself there is a social event among friends, sort of 🙂