Wrestler's dream nears reality

By SUZANNE MCFADDEN

It was the happiest week in Rasoul Amani's new life.

Amani, who as a teenager fought for Iran in the bloody war against Iraq, became a New Zealander last week.

A few days later, the Greco-Roman wrestler was fighting his way to a gold medal at the Oceania Games for his new country - and with it, a ticket to the Olympics.

"This is my wish," the wiry 32-year-old Amani said. "I was born, I started wrestling, and my wish was to one day go to Olympics."

Six nights a week Amani works as a chef in a Turkish-Italian restaurant in Ponsonby Rd in Auckland. Twice a week he is excused for a couple of hours so he can train.

He lives in a small flat in Sandringham where he lifts weights.

This is his paradise.

Amani now has to wait to see if the New Zealand Olympic Committee approves his place in Sydney, and that of his new friend, Jotham Pellow, from Hamilton.

Both wrestlers won their weight divisions in Melbourne at the weekend - becoming the first New Zealanders to qualify for the Olympics in the Greco-Roman style.

Yet Greco-Roman wrestling is one of the oldest Olympic sports - competed in since the first Games, in 1896. The difference from freestyle wrestling is that competitors cannot attack their opponents' legs, or use their own legs to trip, lift or execute holds.

Amani fights in the featherweight (63kg) class. At the Oceania championships, he won all five matches and gave away just one point in the competition.

When he arrived back in Auckland, he phoned his mother in Teheran to tell her the news.

"She is so happy. She said `maybe I see you on TV'."

It has been three years since Amani last saw his family in Iran. His mother has kept his other medals - a silver from the Iranian national championships when he was 22, and a gold from the Iranian Army championships.


Wrestling is the No 1 sport in Iran. But when he was a child, his father did not want him to fight, fearing the boy would break his bones. Amani's father must have known something - his wrestler son fractured two ribs and a finger fighting in the Oceania championships in Dunedin last year.


Amani realises he will have to up the tempo of his training if he is to survive in Sydney. He hopes to get support from sports science professionals about training and diet. So far he has had little help.

But he is not whining. He is simply so happy to be a New Zealander. "I love it. It is so safe. I have to do much hard work, but some day maybe I make a house here."