Takhti claimed gold in the under 87kg light-heavyweight freestyle wrestling at the Melbourne 1956 Summer Olympics, where he defeated the Soviet Union's Boris Kulayev in the gold medal match.

He had stepped up a weight division for the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, having claimed the country's first ever silver four years earlier in the middleweight division in Helsinki.

The wrestling legend backed up his gold medal winning success with another silver medal at Rome, in 1960, as he established himself as one of Iran's greatest athletes, having also claimed two World Championship and one Asian Games title during his career.

Takhti also competed at the Tokyo 1964, where he finished in fourth, but his many achievements have given him legendary status in Iran and he remains one of the nation's most successful Olympic athletes.

Wrestling is Iran's most successful Olympic sport ©Getty Images



Iran's sports officials were marking the 47th anniversary of Takhi's death in January 1968, where he was found dead in a hotel room at the age of 37.

Takhi's death is commemorated every year by Iranians, at the Ibn-e Babouyeh cemetery in Southern Tehran, where he buried.

Iran have claimed 38 Olympic medals in wrestling, making it the country's most success Olympic sport, followed by weightlifting in second with 16 medals.

Iran are the eleventh most successful nation in wrestling at the Olympics, having won eight gold medals.

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