Olympia at the place of escalation: Public enemy Mollaei silvered his escape


Olympia at the place of escalation
Public enemy Mollaei silvered his escape

By Michael Wilkening, Tokyo

For Mongolia the judoka Saeid Mollaei wins silver in the class up to 81 kilograms. In the very hall that changed his life dramatically two years ago. The 26-year-old will rebel against his home country Iran at the 2019 World Cup. Then he flees. To Germany.

Saeid Mollaei showed the strongest gesture and the most impressive message at the end of a long day, immediately after his gold dream had burst. After losing to Takanori Nagase in the final and bowing to his opponent as usual in judo, the 26-year-old took the Japanese man’s arm and held it up. “Here’s the winner”, this gesture should probably mean. Nagase returned the gesture, took Mollaei’s arm and held it out towards the roof of the hall. At the Olympic judo tournament in the 81 kg class, there was later only one gold medal at the award ceremony, but two athletes had achieved a great victory.

“Saeid Mollaei is an inspiration to our sport,” said Nagase later. Not only the newly crowned Olympic champion bowed deeply to his defeated opponent, the volunteers in the hall paid just as much attention to the native Iranian as to the hero from their own homeland. He enjoys enormous popularity in Japan, the motherland of judo, and not just because of his skill on the mat. A nightmare had begun for Mollaei in Tokyo two years ago. He had protested against an injustice and thereby put his life in danger. Since then, every handle on the judo mat, every hip throw or every lever technique has been an attempt to lead one’s life back to normal. With the silver medal around your neck, the problems are not overcome, but it can give hope. “This is for everyone who supported me during the difficult time,” said Mollaei.

The 2019 World Cup and the Protection of the Constitution

Before that, he had prepared for the final fight of the day in the “Nippon Budokan”, the world’s most traditional judo hall, located in the immediate vicinity of the Japanese Imperial Palace, in the place where his life had been shaken almost two years earlier. A preparation room that was covered with the Olympic rings that Tuesday was the scene of those moments that turned his life upside down. Before the semifinals of the 2019 World Cup, he had been harassed as defending champion by Iranian officials. It got loud, the emotions on both sides more charged, the gestures clear. “Everyone noticed that back then,” says Hartmut Paulat, sports director of the German Judo Association. Mollaei would purposely lose his next fight against a Belgian to avoid a final against Israeli Sagi Muki. Iran has been pretending to its athletes for years to boycott competitions with Israeli athletes. The Iranian federation was banned from judo competitions for four years after the events in Tokyo at the end of 2019.

Judoka Mollaei resisted the “order”, but then lost in a sporty way. When the dispute became public and threats against the athlete intensified, he decided to leave his home country. His escape led Mollaei to Germany near Heidelberg to his German girlfriend. He still lives with her, and the couple now have a child. But there is no such thing as an unencumbered family idyll. Two years after fleeing Iran, Mollaei is still in contact with the German Office for the Protection of the Constitution. He accompanies him because there are indications that he and his family are in danger. The exact place of residence in Germany should not be known.

“Mongolia was faster than our bureaucracy”

There was an initiative of the German association to naturalize Mollaei, but it did not come to that. “I would say Mongolia was faster than our bureaucracy,” said DJB sports director Paulat. In the context of judoka from Iran it is reported that Iran exerted gentle pressure to prevent the “public enemy” from being naturalized in Germany. Now Mollaei competes for Mongolia, but can also rely on the support in their new homeland. The DJB made it possible for Mollaei to take part in courses for the German national team, and they only went their separate ways for the final preparation for the games in Japan. He found a sporting home at a judo club in Mannheim, and he trained regularly at the Olympic base in Heidelberg.

On the mats in the “Nippon Budokan” he showed himself and the world that it can be worthwhile to stand up against an injustice. After a mixed start to the day, the 26-year-old improved from fight to fight and sniffed another victory in the final. There was only one little thing missing to bring the extraordinary story of his return to the place of his torment to a perfect end.

“Bad things have happened and I hadn’t said goodbye to this place yet,” said Mollaei. The missed gold couldn’t tarnish his pride and joy. The native Iranian, who lives in Germany and starts for Mongolia, was touched, happy and friendly. “Have a nice evening,” he said goodbye and bowed.

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