Olympic champion Dell’aquila motivates refugee taekwondo athlete Tiranvalipour. IOC

Hadi Tiranvalipour spent his first 10 days as a refugee in Italy living in a forest. The Iranian born Taekwondo athlete, a national and continental champion who represented the land of his birth for eight years, is now heading to Paris to represent the IOC Refugee Olympic Team.

In his pursuit of a medal of his own in Paris, Tiranvalipour trains alongside Vito Dell'aquila (Italy), the defending Olympic champion in the men’s 58kg and is key to pushing him for greatness, Olympics.com reports.

Hadi Tiranvalipour (first from right) with Italian Taekwondo National Team members before the 2024 European Qualifiers. FITA
Hadi Tiranvalipour (first from right) with Italian Taekwondo National Team members before the 2024 European Qualifiers. FITA

“He is one of the best taekwondo athletes in the world,” Tiranvalipour tells of Dell’aquila. “We are in the same category and always fighting each other. Whenever I’m tired, I look to Vito as an example and it motivates me. If I want to put my name on the list of Olympic champions, I have to keep going without any excuses.”

Tiranvalipour failed to qualify for the Paris 2024 through the European qualification, and he didn’t have any expectation to make the Olympic list. “I had to make many sacrifices, training three times a day and losing weight. I would like to be in the Olympics as a fighter, not just as a participant. I fight until the last second,” tells the athlete to Olympics.com.

Tiranvalipourhad won gold medal at the 2015 Asian Youth Championships. INSTAGRAM @haditiran_official
Tiranvalipourhad won gold medal at the 2015 Asian Youth Championships. INSTAGRAM @haditiran_official

He says that he wants to be at the Olympic Games to represent 120 million people. “A refugee athlete is nothing like a normal athlete. They have a really difficult life, and we are far away from our family. I know life for refugees and displaced people is so difficult, so I want to be a good example.

“We don’t have a flag, but we have 120 million people behind us, so we have to represent all of them. If you have a dream, you have to keep going. This is our responsibility to tell them,” concludes Tiranvalipour .