Ehsan Hadadi Aims to Win Gold at Olympics


Ehsan Hadadi Aims to Win Gold at Olympics

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – London 2012 silver medalist Ehsan Hadadi hopes to win his first ever gold medal at the Olympics.

He is back training for his fourth Games after recovering from the coronavirus in March. Hadadi lost nearly six weeks of training, due to both confinement in the capital Tehran and the illness, but the time away also made him eager to prove his prowess.

“How can corona attack this big body?”, the discus thrower quipped just weeks before he developed symptoms and was confirmed as one of over 120,000 positive cases in his country.

“I had good training this season but the crazy corona erased all our plans. This was hard for me, but I learnt that you don’t always have to be chasing after achievements.

"The most important thing is to always be a good person, value life and appreciate good health,” the 2004 world junior champion told Olympic Channel in an exclusive interview from his hometown Tehran.

"You might be big, rich, driving a good car, own big parcels of land, but when you are not healthy you have nothing. The most important thing is to always be a good person, value life and appreciate good health,” he added.

“At the 2008 Olympics I lost because of an injury but I forgot about it. I focused on training and I went to London and picked up the silver medal.

"After London, I was always injured. At Rio 2016, I struggled, same in 2017 at the Worlds. 2018 I was in the world's top list at number three. 2019 the World Championships wasn’t good for me,” he declared.

“Four Olympics for me is a lot after 16 years competing at the top but I hope and wish that I get the gold medal in Tokyo. Then I will say I have four Olympics and two medals.

"Four Olympics and one medal is not good enough. Maybe also the fifth Olympics I could go to, why not? I’m still in good shape and a young boy,” Hadadi added.

“I am still an Olympic silver medalist, not an Olympic champion. I am always thinking of my fifth throw that I fouled at London 2012. I always feel like if I had got that throw right, I could now be an Olympic champion.

"I like the sound of the Olympic champion, I don’t like the sound of, ‘this guy is the Olympic silver medalist’,” he said.

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