Statements at the Meeting with Medal-Winning Athletes of Iran's Sports Caravan at the Asian Games in Indonesia

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Today is a very sweet and memorable day for me. First, we must thank the Almighty God; the days of Muharram, the magnificent Ashura, with the warm and meaningful presence of the people, have passed this year more than in previous years; and this is a reason for gratitude. You are the children of Islam, the children of Ashura, the children of Islamic values; we take pride in you.

I want to make a reference to the bitter incident in Ahvaz two days ago; this [attack] indicates that we have many enemies on this path we are moving on - the path of honor, the path of elevation, the path of progress; you all must constantly remember that we have many enemies. Of course, what they did was cowardly; [when] you attack with a machine gun, against a group that has neither weapons nor defensive capabilities, it is clear that some will be martyred; however, it is not a brave act, it is a cowardly act. The brave work was done by our youth; each in their own field: you in the field of sports, some in the field of sacred defense, some in the field of science; those are the brave and valuable actions. But, as for this enemy, according to what I have been informed today, this work is done by those who, whenever they get stuck in Syria and Iraq, the Americans go to rescue them; it is their work, those whose hands are in the pockets of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, of course, we will give them a hard lesson, God willing.

Regarding your work, I have noted a few points to tell you: First, as I said, the real medal is you yourselves; efficient, faithful, intelligent, serious, hardworking human resources are the highest value for a country, human resources like this. With such human resources, we will advance in any field we enter; as we have progressed in the field of sports, thanks be to God. You have noticed, in disciplines where we have little history, we defeat the founders of that discipline; women, girls, boys, are winning medals in various disciplines, they are a source of pride. Well, you have succeeded, thanks be to God.

One point is that you should know - and you know - that the front of global arrogance becomes angry and furious with every victory we achieve - whether in the field of sports, in the field of war, or in the field of science - in every field we succeed, they become angry; thus, your victory is, in fact, a victory over the front of global arrogance as well. You have defeated them, made them furious; they are forced to swallow their anger. You know, they are willing to pay the referee and do anything to prevent you from succeeding in various areas; this is how the enemy is. When you succeed, you have actually defeated them psychologically and emotionally. It is not just the rival in the field that has been defeated by you, a vast front behind the scenes has also been defeated by you; that is why we take pride in you.

I truly, I mean sometimes when I send a message to you after your victories and express my gratitude, it comes from the heart, I genuinely thank you, because you are actually giving a national victory to the Iranian nation and making them happy; this is one point.

Another point is that in some of our sports competitions, our victory has been able to make millions of people in other countries happy. The historic match between Iran and America, the famous football match, in Egypt, in Beirut, in many other countries made people happy; they have no kinship with us, but they rejoice in our victory; thus, your victory makes a front sad - which is better that they become sad, they are enemies of humanity - it makes a vast number of people happy, it is also their victory.

One point is that our victories are often concealed by the propaganda apparatus of the enemies. We currently have great victories in scientific matters, many of our own people do not really know; we know. In a significant number of new scientific fields, we are among the top ten countries in the world, meaning in over two hundred countries we are among the top ten; sometimes we are among the top six or seven countries in the world; these are usually concealed and not mentioned; various victories in different fields. [However] victory in the field of sports cannot be concealed by anyone; this is the merit of your work; that is, when you succeed in the field of sports, no one can deny it; the whole world, hundreds of millions of people see it with their own eyes; this elevates the value of your work.

A very important point in my opinion is your behavior. You have shown your Iranian and Islamic identity in this year’s sports competitions - and it has been the same in the past - your Islamic and Iranian personality has been demonstrated, both in the actions of you men and in the actions of these women. You prostrated, prayed, our Iranian girl did not shake hands with the president who wanted to shake hands with her because he was a non-mahram; these are very valuable, these are very important. [Television] showed the gathering of this women’s kabaddi team that prostrated; the television showed this; these are very valuable; these cannot be measured in terms of value, they are far superior to material calculations. Our women who participated in the field of sports appeared with dignity, with composure; all with Islamic hijab and some with the specific Iranian Islamic hijab of chador, which is the symbol of Iranian women all over the world; these are very valuable; that you dedicated your medals to the martyr, or to the defender of the shrine; one of the champions, medalists, dedicated her medal to the martyr defender of the shrine; one dedicated it to her martyr uncle; these are very valuable; these demonstrate your revolutionary, Islamic, and Iranian identity; this is what elevates a nation. Submitting and being humble in the face of the imposed norms of arrogance is not a source of pride, this is the pride; this is the true champion. Some countries have champions, [but] they have rented champions; they rent champions from this country, from that country; that rented champion cannot represent the identity of that nation. A true champion who has risen from the heart of the nation can represent his nation and demonstrate the identity of his nation; you have done this, and this was very valuable.

I want to tell you not to let them intimidate you; do not let them tell you that if you do not participate in such and such competition, if you do not do such and such a thing, if you do not appear in such and such a way, such and such an international federation, such and such an international organization will be dissatisfied with you; to hell with their dissatisfaction, they cannot do anything. This Mr. Alireza (1) was threatened, thanks be to God this year he became champion and returned. Last year he did not participate in that competition, meaning he accepted defeat in a sense for a value; both he was threatened and the wrestling federation was threatened. Do not submit to these threats, do your own work, follow your own path, pursue your own goals. The field of sports is not a field of fear and anxiety and consideration, it is a field of courage and action and moving forward. Values and authenticity cannot be trampled for the sake of winning a medal somewhere. The fact that you write on your chest "Ya Ali", "Ya Zainab" has great value; this is truly infinitely valuable. The fact that you prostrate after victory has infinite value. I said, these do not really count, and do not fit into material calculations; keep these in mind. In any case, do not let this valuable identity be defeated by passivity in the face of the false, erroneous, and imposed demands and norms of some.

One point I want to especially advise you is that champions are under scrutiny, you are all under observation, the people know you; but they do not only know you in the field of sports, they know you in the streets and in the workplace and similar places. You can be a model of righteousness, nobility, honor, and purity; adjust your behavior outside the field of championship and sports in a way that aligns with the good behavior you have in the field of sports. Sometimes we have seen some who shone well in the field of sports but later acted in a way that was inappropriate.

You can be a champion and be humble, you can be a champion and be religious, you can be a champion and be a good mother - one of these women showed that she is a good mother - and you can be a champion and a progressive revolutionary; these are things that you should, God willing, keep in mind and pay attention to.

Let me also say here, sometimes being a champion is about not going to the field. You see, the uproar they make about why you do not compete with the Zionist regime, why you do not wrestle with them, why you do not do this, this is because they want to divert the Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation from the firm and straight path it has been following since the beginning of the revolution.

From the beginning of the revolution, we said we do not accept two regimes; not that we do not have relations, we do not accept them at all; one was the Zionist regime, and the other was the racist regime of South Africa; those who today talk about human rights and such things, had relations with this regime - which they are still pursuing - and with the South African regime until the last moment; that is, a regime where a small group of white people dominated a million-strong black population who owned the land; these white people had come from England, they were originally English; for many years, perhaps nearly a hundred years - I do not remember exactly now - they dominated this country; we said we do not accept this. South Africa belongs to the people of South Africa, not to the English occupiers.

This Mr. Nelson Mandela (2) who had been released from prison, came and sat in this very room, right here where you are sitting - before he became president - we sat down, and I explained to him the story of the Imam, the Imam's struggle; I said the Imam's struggle was like this, he did not use bullets and guns and coups and such things, he presented to the people, convinced the hearts of the people, the people came out into the streets with their own bodies. No regime can confront a people who bravely come into the streets with their own bodies and prevail; I realized it had an impact on his heart; when Mandela left here, street protests in South Africa began, continuing until they overthrew the apartheid regime (3). This one will also fall, this one is truly the false, evil, and usurping racist Zionist regime, this will also fall; we do not compete with this; this is championship; that our champion and hero does not go to wrestle with them or compete in any other competition, this is "championship". That our champion is willing to fall to avoid competing with them according to international protocols (4), this is championship. I told this Mr. Alireza Karimi last year when he came here, I said, you are a champion; the fact that you did not go - meaning you did something to avoid competing with them even if you accepted defeat, which is hard for a wrestler, he can hit but does not, this is very hard - this difficulty you accepted is championship, true championship is this. In any case, all of you are valuable youth, girls, boys; in every field you work in, you are valuable. Continue the work of competitive sports; as long as you can and wish, continue; and competitive sports is a peak; this competitive sport should cause people to move towards this peak; not that everyone should be competitive athletes, but everyone should exercise, meaning exercise should become sweet in the eyes of the people; from the young to the old like us; everyone should exercise, so we also exercise according to our old age, of course, old-age exercise.

God willing, may you be successful, God willing, may all of you be well, happy. And give this ring that I promised to them - yes, both to the women and to the men - God willing, may they be successful, I will also pray for you.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.