Remembering Takhti

January 7, 1968 was the day G.R. Takhti was killed in a Hotel room in Tehran. In those days, there was not much needed to arouse the wrath of either the Royal family or one of the “Alpha” family members, not to mention their excessively loyal attendants. Looking back, one can not help but consider this particular murder as one of the most ridiculous and unnecessary acts ever, committed to teach the Iranian “National Front” a lesson in social policy, that no matter how great and popular an incorruptible sportsman is, and no matter how far he might have gone, he still is a“small” fish and can be eradicated and brought down by a “Twitch upon the thread”. (Burrowed from Evelyn Waugh)

Takhti is a name familiar to all Iranians, he was born in 1930 and struggled his way up from the underprivileged, through school and Gymnasium. He worked for the Iranian Oil industry until drafted for his military service, where he became familiar with freestyle wrestling. Considering him being new to this sport, one must admire him becoming Iranian national champion in 1950, at the age of 20 and immediately his first silver medal in Helsinki World championship in 1951, followed by another silver at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics. Takhti went on to win Gold in Melbourne Olympics 1956, then another Gold in 1959 at Tehran World Championships and yet another Gold in Yokohama / Japan and finally a silver in Toledo / USA.

All those medals, made him the most successful Iranian sportsman ever, but these medals were not the reasons for his unmatched popularity. Takhti was courted by the Iranian national front and it seems he was more than willing to follow suit. In 1961, an earthquake in West Iran killed just under 50 000 Iranians and as in all cases known to us throughout the world, help always comes trudging. Takhti, decided to simply go to one of the main Tehran streets and started walking through it, knocking on all doors and shops, asking for help and donations. This move inspired many other sportsmen and other personalities of the time, and as a result , hundreds of thousands donated. This noble move was seen by the insecure absolute Monarchy of the time as a defying political maneuver to bypass the Monarchy by not sharing the glory and grace of this humanitarian action.(Sounds medieval,but true to the bone)

As of early 1962, Takhti was constantly and systematically harassed and even stopped from training, before championship matches. The newspapers of the time were unbelievably biased and exceptionally unfair towards him and his following as he was permanently insulted. Plan was to isolate and discredit Takhti and finally eliminate him as such, was the solution to all political dissent in the last century. His body was found in a Hotel Room in Tehran.
He is buried in a cemetery in south Tehran, called “Ebn-Baabiye” next to, and in the mausoleum of another famous National Front member called “Shamshiri”. At the time of his death, he was 38 years old. Bless his soul.