Ehsan Haddadi (Persian: احسان حدادی, born January 20, 1985, in Tehran)[1] is a former Iranian discus thrower. His height is 193 cm and his weight is 127 kg.[2]
The 2004 Asian Junior Champion, he won a gold medal at the 2004 World Junior Championships In Grosseto, the inaugural Iranian to win a medal at any global athletics competition. In 2005 he won the Asian Championships in Incheon with a throw of 65.25 metres. In December 2006, he added another gold medal to his record, winning the title at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.[3] In 2007, he won the Asian Championships in Amman and defended his title.[citation needed]
His personal best throw is 69.32 m, achieved on June 3, 2008, in Tallinn, Estonia. This is the current Asian record. Because of his good performance over the whole season 2008, he was considered a medal contender entering the 2008 Summer Olympics, but he ranked 17th with a 61.34-meter throw and failed to qualify for the final; Haddadi blamed his poor results on his injuries.[4]
After more than a year's absence due to shoulder surgery, In November 2009, he won his third in a row continental title in Guangzhou.[5]
After winning 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou and 2011 Asian Championship in Kobe, Haddadi made history by becoming the first Iranian athlete to win a medal at IAAF World Championships in Athletics, he won bronze in 2011 World Championships in Athletics in Daegu.[6]
Haddadi competed and won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics with a 68.18 m throw.[7] Iranian athletes have participated in the Olympic Games since 1948 and before Haddadi's silver medal, had only attained medals in wrestling, Olympian weightlifting, and taekwondo. His achievement was a milestone in Iran's Olympic history in that it ended Iran's 64-year-old medal drought in events other than the aforementioned.[citation needed]
Haddadi offered his silver medal to children with cancer, and travelled to Azerbaijan to gather funds for the 2012 earthquakes' victims. On 27 March 2020, Haddadi announced he tests positive for COVID-19 during the pandemic in Iran.[8]