Iman Mahdavi

Iman Mahdavi (; born 12 February 1995) is an Iranian freestyle wrestler who immigrated to Italy, and competed with the Refugee Olympic Team at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Early life Iman Mahdavi was born on 12 February 1995, in Iran along the Caspian Sea. He grew up in the Mazandaran province. His father was a wrestler, which led to Mahdavi's involvement in the sport starting at the age of fifteen. Mahdavi became a seven-time national junior champion.

In October 2020, Mahdavi left Iran due to ongoing concerns of its government's treatment of human rights by walking across its border with Turkey. Twenty days later, in November, Mahdavi flew to Milan, Italy, where he applied for asylum. He did not originally know his flight's destination, saying later in an interview, "Luckily for me, it was Italy." which was recommended to him by a friend he made on Instagram. His coach there, Marco "Papi" Moroni, also helped him start a job as a bouncer at a nightclub.

Mahdavi plans to move to Moldova to intensify his training,

2024 Summer Olympics

On 2 May 2024, Mahdavi was announced as one of thirty-six athletes who would join the Refugee Olympic Team (EOR) in its participation at the 2024 Summer Olympics, particularly in the men's freestyle 74 kg event.