A Paralympic “hero” receiving a 10-meter-high statue in his honor at the entrance to his hometown? While such a tribute is hard to imagine in France, it is the case in Iran. Since 2020, a giant bust of Siamand Rahman, two-time Paralympic powerlifting champion – on the bench press, to be precise – has stood in Oshnavieh, a city in the northwest of the country.

Since he died of a heart attack on March 1, 2020 at the age of 31, Rahman, who won gold medals at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games, has remained an icon in the Islamic Republic. “The strongest Paralympic athlete in the world,” as he was called, remains to this day the only Paralympian to have lifted weights totaling more than 300 kilograms.

“In Iran, where there is a cult of strongmen, the fame of Siamand Rahman, who lost his legs to polio, can be compared to that of Teddy Riner in France, and that fame still lives on,” said Alexis Querou, who is in charge of bench press performance at the French Parasport Federation (FFH).

The Islamic Republic is not the only country where powerlifting is a flagship discipline of parasport. Several countries, particularly with an eye on their participation in the Paralympic Games, have chosen to “concentrate their efforts on a few individual disciplines, such as the bench press, where they are almost certain to win medals,” noted Mehdi Ourizat, coach of the French Paralympic powerlifting team.

For Egypt, for example, this means that the tournament in Paris will really get underway on Wednesday, September 4, with the bench press events. Although the country is represented in some 10 different sports disciplines in Paris, it will rely heavily on its powerlifters (13 competitors, including 6 women) to ensure that its delegation does not go home empty-handed. Since Seoul 1988, its powerlifters have always stood on the podium at the Paralympic Games, as Emad Ramadan, the chairman of the Egyptian delegation, explained to the newspaper Al Ahram.

This strategy has also been implemented by Nigeria, whose representatives compete in only four disciplines (powerlifting, table tennis, badminton and shot put) and whose medal hopes rest mainly on the bench press events: eight of its powerlifters, including seven women, will compete in these events. In Rio, in 2016, Nigerians won six of their eight gold medals by pumping iron.

‘Much less demanding than other disciplines’

Behind these choices often lies the question of the resources needed to develop competitive sports. Powerlifting is a low-cost sport, accessible to all, so the investment required to send an athlete to the Paralympic Games is modest. “To qualify, you only have to participate in two international competitions a year,” Querou said. “It’s much less demanding than in other disciplines, such as athletics or tennis.”

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