Rasoul Khadem


Rasoul Khadem Azghadi is a former Iranian wrestler who has won a bronze medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics and a gold medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics. He was also the 1994 and 1995 world champion and 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996 Asian champion. He was trained by his father Mohammad Khadem, and he is also the younger brother of Olympic wrestling bronze medalists Amir Reza Khadem and Ebrahim Khadem.
He was the president of Islamic Republic of Iran Wrestling Federation from January 4, 2014, to November 3, 2018. He was also the technical director of Iran's wrestling national teams and the head coach of Iran's freestyle national team from January 2012 to 2018. In addition, he was elected as an executive board member of National Olympic Committee of Iran on January 20, 2014, and served until January 2018.

Personal life

On 4 January 2026, Khadem publicly supported the 2025–2026 Iranian protests by posting a scene from The Death of Yazdgerd, a movie banned by the Islamic Republic, in which the main character, a baker named Mobed, tells his wife he's going to send a message to the people of Iran; his wife, played by Susan Taslimi, responds with "Send a message, Mobed, but add a little bread to it; we people are full of messages and hungry for bread." On 25 January, concerning the high casualty rate of the protests, wrote on his Instagram: "The homeland is grieving. We are grieving."

Major achievements