Jamal Valizadeh (Persian: جمال ولیزاده; born 26 September 1991) is an Iranian wrestler. He was selected for the 2024 Summer Olympics as a member of the Refugee Olympic Team.
Valizadeh was born in 1991 in Kermanshah, Iran.[1][2] He grew up in the village of Takhti and attended school in Sanandaj.[3][4] He was the only boy of 34 cousins who was initially not a wrestler; instead, he competed in handball as a goalkeeper, before being convinced to try out the sport at age 11.[4][5] He trained with his family each day and joined a club in Takhti, later beating the regional champion in his first year in the sport.[4][5] He quickly showed talent in the sport, competing in Greco-Roman events,[6] and won the national championship in the 55 kg category each year from 2011 to 2013.[5]
In 2014, Valizadeh attended a Kurd demonstration protesting the Islamic State.[7] He witnessed "the police [...] hitting the women and children," and intervened.[3][7] He recalled that "I threw myself between the legs of one of the officers, I used a wrestling technique on him."[7] However, he was overpowered and imprisoned, where he was tortured for two weeks.[7] Describing it as "hell," he later noted in Le Parisien:
I was interrogated, and they beat me when I didn't know what to answer to their questions [...] The worst part was the sleep deprivation. They let me rest for twenty minutes, then took me out of the cell to question me. I found myself in a cell where it was impossible to sit down. When you are forced to stand without sleeping for 24 hours, you go crazy. I was released on bail, but with the certainty of being convicted.[7]
Validezah went into hiding in Tehran for six months, while working jobs to earn money so that he could pay someone to smuggle him to Turkey.[7] In Turkey, he recalled that he "worked 16 hours a day, earning only 1,000 dollars after six months. [The employers] gave me $300 a month and I had to buy my own food ... they abused me, they did not respect me, they spoke badly to me."[6] He said "it was really hard," but that it was necessary to earn money to continue his journey.[6] In the winter of 2015, Valizadeh crossed the Mediterranean Sea on boat with other refugees; however, the boat started to sink and he had to swim several hundred metres to reach his destination.[8] He arrived in France on 1 January 2016 and later stayed at a shelter in Le Mans, receiving political refugee status.[7]
Valizadeh learned French and worked as a forklift driver in a supermarket for several years.[3] He also enrolled at the University of Lorraine, studying information technology (IT).[3] In January 2023, following eight years away from wrestling, he returned to the sport and joined a club in France.[5] He competed at six international tournaments that year representing the United World Wrestling (UWW) refugee team, including at the World Wrestling Championships and European Wrestling Championships.[9] He received an International Olympic Committee (IOC) scholarship and began training with the French national team multiple times a week.[5] In May 2024, he was announced as a member of the Refugee Olympic Team to compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics for the 60 kg Greco-Roman event.[5][10][11]
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