While some weightlifters are worrying about whether or not their platforms should rest on rubber or plywood, Iran’s Kianoush Rostami is dragging a shard of rubber into the desert to do snatches.
The -85kg weightlifting phenomenon just posted this pretty cool clip of a training session-slash-Instagram video opportunity that he took in the mountainous terrain of Kermenshah, a province in western Iran that borders Iraq. Wherever he is, it seems pretty hard to get to — he even had to drive his car through knee-deep water.
Take a look below. It’s pretty long, but the scenery is beautiful.
It looks like he’s doing warm-up sets with 100kg, and the heaviest of the snatches look to be snappy reps with 120 kilograms (264.5 pounds).
Rostami was born and resides in this province and frequently posts pictures of himself enjoying the scenery. Here he is chilling with some Kermenshah cows in December.
Kermenshah was hit the hardest by the magnitude 7.3 earthquake that rocked the Iran-Iraq border in November, killing at least 630 people and injuring more than 8,000. To support the victims, Rostami vowed to auction his Olympic gold medal from the 2016 Olympics, saying at the time,
I consider it my duty to take a step, however small, to help my beloved fellow countrymen who have suffered as a result of the quake.
I am returning the gold medal, which is theirs by right, to my people. I will auction off the medal and use the proceeds to help the quake victims.
Rostami hasn’t been neglecting his training since he returned from the World Weightlifting Championships in December, but we couldn’t fault the guy for needing some vacation time to unwind from the trip.
After serious difficulty even getting a visa to compete — the U.S. Department of State denied his first application — the world record holder in the clean & jerk (220kg) was a clear favorite heading into the competition. Unfortunately, he suffered a knee injury while training and was unable to complete any clean & jerks on the platform, though he did walk away with silver in the snatch.
Here’s to a prosperous and injury-free 2018 for Kianoush Rostami.
Featured image via @ kianoush_rostami on Instagram.