Statements at the Meeting with Members of the Policy-Making Council of the Organizers of the Martyrs of Sports Congress

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

First of all, we thank you for the thought of introducing the martyrs of sports from the vast multitude of martyrs in the country, so that society understands that sacrifice in the way of God, in the way of religion, and in the way of the revolution, whether by giving one's life or becoming disabled, is not limited to a specific class; all classes of the country have participated in this great and spiritual competition, which is "Race towards the forgiveness of your Lord". In my opinion, it is a very interesting initiative to introduce the martyrs of sports. Perhaps like others, I did not know that we have five thousand martyr athletes, or that among the recent martyrs defending the guardianship of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) and defending the sanctuaries of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them), there are athletes, champions; these are very valuable. With your work, you strengthen the revolutionary spirit in the country, you elevate revolutionary thought; yes, you rightly said that the young athlete is, in fact, a natural role model for a significant portion of the youth, and his ethics, behavior, qualities of life, and lifestyle can have an impact. How important it is that a young athlete, with the sphere of influence and impact that his personality has, can guide people towards religion, ethics, and spirituality.

I have always admired and praised this statement of Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified) that he praised and honored athletes in the early days of the revolution with a completely understandable and local expression, calling them "heroes". The term hero, in our national literature, is a title of distinction; he used the expression of hero; it is a very good statement.

Fortunately, over the years, our athletes have also done good and outstanding work in the sports environment; I do not want to say that all athletes have been like this, but there have been among the athletes those who have become a source of pride. Well, pride is not just about singing our national anthem; of course, that is a pride, it is good and a remarkable thing, but above this pride is, for example, that our wrestler does not wrestle with that Zionist opponent; this is a very big deal; or that female champion stands on the championship podium wearing a hijab; this is very important. See who can endure in front of the reproachful and questioning eyes of the materialistic world, where a woman's pride is that she must come naked [to do this]? Men are fully covered, while women must come naked; this is a wrong act, a completely malicious and politicized act; in such a world, a woman stands on that podium with a hijab or complete Islamic covering and receives her championship award; this is very important; this is more important than the flag that goes up; this demonstrates the strong spirit of the Muslim Iranian; this shows that in the face of the wave of delusions and delusional feelings, this [individual] does not fail and is not defeated. The identity of a nation and the strength of its element and metal, which has a strong and resilient metal, can be understood this way; these are very valuable. Well, thanks be to God, we have had such examples; now I mentioned wrestling; we have had similar instances in volleyball and other areas where they refused to compete against the enemy, which caused them to fall behind in the competition; they accepted this; however, the world praised them. This is like going to the battlefield; that same spirit, that same strength of character and identity that one observes there, is also observed here; these are very valuable. God willing, you should work to make the sports environment such an environment. We have also seen the opposite of this; we have seen, heard, and become aware of the other side in sports environments. Work so that, God willing, the sports environment moves in this direction. Of course, your initiative of "commemorating the martyr athletes" is a very good step; this is a very good step, and the few cases you mentioned are important.

What I have mentioned is to honor that athlete who, in the arena of championship and publicly, in front of the cameras of billions of people, safeguards values; because the audience is in the billions; these are very valuable. Honor these individuals as well; one of the tasks is to honor those who do this, or that athlete who mentions the name of God, or that athlete who, after bringing his opponent to the ground in wrestling, prostrates; these are very important, these represent a symbol; they are symbols of the identity and character of Islamic Iran; honor these people, strengthen them. Where is this and where is that athlete who, let’s say—not from our country, but similar ones in other countries—when they go to, for example, a world competition; their day is for competition or practice, but their night is in a different, undesirable form; it should not be like this, meaning strengthen those who observe those Islamic values and move forward.

Very well, I am glad that, thanks be to God, you are doing this work, and God willing, you will make the sports environment cleaner and brighter day by day.