An Iranian Paralympian was stripped of a gold medal this week after taking out a controversial religious flag after his victory in Paris.
The controversy is raising alarm bells on the internet this week after people called out the governing body for removing a gold medal for an unrelated reason.
The Paralympian
Sadegh Beit Sayah is an Iranian Paralympian who competes in several throwing events.
This week, he thought that he had secured the gold in the men’s F41 Javelin final when he set a new Paralympian record with a stunning throw of 47.64 meters.
The Athlete Was Warned of This Behaviour
The Iranian-born para-athlete was stripped of his gold medal just moments prior to the awarding ceremony. He received two yellow cards in separate incidents during the event.
The 37-year-old received a second yellow card, and the final disqualification was when he brought out a black glad with red writing to celebrate his gold medal win.
The Disqualification
According to the Paralympic website, the athlete, Beit Sayah was disqualified because of rule 8.1 of the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) regulations, which states: ‘The IPC Code of Ethics and the World Para Athletics Code of Conduct (both located on the IPC website) shall apply to all participants of World Para Athletics Recognised Competitions.
‘Any breach of these Regulations shall be determined in accordance with the procedures outlined in the World Para Athletics Code of Conduct.’
The Flag
The flag that Beit Sayah unfurled after he won the gold medal was in violation of rule 1.11 of the IPC Code of Ethics, which says athletes must: ‘Refrain from using the Paralympic Games and the Paralympic Movement to promote any political agenda, other than the advancement of sport for persons with an impairment and democracy, empowerment, equality, and the protection of human rights.’
His home country of Iran launched an appeal to overturn the disqualification, but were ultimately unsuccessful.
The Athlete Speaks Out
Beit Sayah spoke out after his disqualification with an emotional speech.
He claims that the flag holds no political meaning. Instead, he says that the religious flag was meant to honor Hazrat Ummul Banin, the wife of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first Shia Imam.
The Athlete Was Warned
The athlete was given a yellow card the first time that the gesture was made and could have potentially escaped the disqualification had he not brought out the flag.
The head of Iran’s Para-Athletes Association, Aliasghar Hadizadeh, also claims that the “throat-slitting” gesture was a common practice when athletes broke a record.
Iranians Protest the Decision
‘When the competition was over and the results were announced, we found out that he had been disqualified, so we immediately went to the authorities and announced our strong protest,’ Hadizadeh told the Iranian media agency, Tasnim News.
‘After our protest, a meeting was held and the videos of the competition were shown. Considering that every athlete has a kind of happiness. Some of Shadi Beit Sayah’s behaviour was not approved by the referee, and our athlete was disqualified.’
The Throat Slitting Gesture
The Iranian governing body claims that the throat-slitting gesture was a point of pride for the athlete and not meant to be threatening.
‘Usually, when athletes break the record, they pass their hands past their necks as a sign of breaking this record, which took a different interpretation and showed the first yellow card to Beit Sayah.’
The Flag
When asked about the flag that Beit Sayah took out, Hadizadeh said, ‘We always give the Iranian flag to the athlete from above, but Mr. Beit Sayyah took this flag out of his sports backpack because of his devotion to Hazrat Ummul Banin, and he got the second yellow card and his gold medal and record were removed.’
It is unclear if Beit Sayah new that this exact flag would result in a final disqualification.
Officials Have Not Spoken Out
For now, officials at the Paralympics have not spoken out about the specific information that the exact action had.
The action was considered to be improper or otherwise bringing disallowed religious or political symbols to the games.
Other Athletes Enjoyed Stepping up to the Podium
After Beit Sayah’s disqualification, Indian para-athlete Navdeep Singh took the place on the gold medal podium with China’s Sun Pengxiang and Iraq’s Wildan Nukhailwai accepting solver and bronze.
The other athletes will enjoy their scores in place of Beit Sayah.
