Hassan Yazdani

Hassan Yazdani Charati ( born 26 December 1994) is an Iranian freestyle wrestler. Yazdani is an Olympic and World Champion in freestyle wrestling in two weight categories. He became Olympic champion in the 74kg category at the 2016 Summer Olympics after defeating Russian wrestler Aniuar Geduev in the final. The following year he became World Champion at the 2017 World Wrestling Championships in the Men's freestyle 86 kg category. He won his second world title at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships in Kazakhstan and third at the 2021 World Wrestling Championships in Norway.

Career
Yazdani earned a gold medal at the 2014 Junior World Championships in the 66 kg division, by defeating his American opponent Aaron Pico in the final. The following year, he placed second at the Senior World Championships, losing to Magomedrasul Gazimagomedov of Russia in the finals by a score of 10–3.

After bumping up to 74 kg. Yazdani claimed gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics, defeating Aniuar Geduev 6–6 with criteria by scoring the final points.

After once again bumping up in weight, Yazdani won gold at the 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games in the 86 kg division. He defeated former Olympic gold medalist Sharif Sharifov of Azerbaijan with a score of 11-0 and 2016 Olympic silver medalist Selim Yaşar of Turkey with the same score en route to becoming champion.

In July 2017, Yazdani won the Iran Freestyle Wrestling Nationals at 86 kg, defeating Alireza Karimi 5-0 on his path to victory. This gained him a place at the 2017 World Wrestling Championships in Paris. In 2017 World Wrestling Championships in Paris, Hassan Yazdani participated in 86 kg. He became the champion with decisive wins, 4 out of 5 matches including the final with technical superiority. In the entire championship, Yazdani gave out only two points. Right after the matches, he stated that he "came to Paris for a decisive gold, with no ifs or buts".

He lost to American David Taylor in the men's 86kg final at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He then scored his first win against Taylor in the final of the men's 86kg event at the 2021 World Wrestling Championships.

Yazdani won the final by walkover at the 2019 World Wrestling Championships in the freestyle 86 kg category, against India's Deepak Punia, a wrestler that "idolises Yazdani". Yazdani faced Punia next in the wrestling competition at the 2022 Asian Games – in the Men's freestyle 86 kg final, where Yazdani beat Punia 10-0 in a one-sided match.

Yazdani won the silver medal in the men's 86kg event at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. He lost to his rival David Taylor in the final.

He again won the silver medal in the men's 86kg event at the 2023 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. He lost to his arch-rival David Taylor for the fifth time, now trailing 1–5 in their head-to-head. He won the gold medal in the men's 86kg event at the 2022 Asian Games held in Hangzhou, China.

Achievements

 * Olympic Games – 2016,  2020
 * World Championships – 2017, 2019, 2021  2015, 2022, 2023  2018
 * World Cup – 2015, 2016, 2017
 * World Junior Championship – 2014
 * Asian Junior Championship – 2014
 * World Cadet Championship – 2011
 * Asian Cadet Championship – 2011
 * Asian Games – 2018, 2022
 * Asian Championships – 2018, 2021
 * Islamic Solidarity Games – 2017
 * Takhti Cup – 2015
 * Dan Kolov Tournament – 2019
 * Paris Tournament – 2015,  2016
 * Aleksandr Medved Prizes – 2016