Iran (officially called the Islamic Republic of Iran) competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024. Since the nation's return in 1948 after having made their debut in 1900, Iranian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games except for Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984, citing political reasons. This was the nation's 19th appearance at the Summer Olympics.
During the Games, 41 competitors across 14 sports competed for Iran at the 2024 Summer Olympics.[2] The Iranian roster featured a number of past Olympians and Olympic medalists, including taekwondo fighter Nahid Kiani, who became the first Iranian woman to win a silver medal at the Olympics and thereby surpassing Kimia Alizadeh's 2016 bronze feat, and freestyle wrestler Hassan Yazdani, who won his third Olympic medal with a silver medal. A total of 12 medals were won for Iran at these Games, 3 of which were gold, placing Iran at 21st on the medal table for these Games.
There had been calls to ban Iran from the 2024 Summer Olympics due to human rights abuse allegations following the executions of Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari and national karate champion Mohammad Mehdi Karami, crackdown on protesters and athletes during the Mahsa Amini protests, blinding of archer Kowsar Khoshnoudi-Kia, and defection of taekwondo medalist Kimia Alizadeh.[1][5] A group of Iranian dissidents including Franco-Iranian boxer Mahyar Monshipour and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi sent a letter to the IOC calling for Iran to be banned; they opined that the country's prohibition of women from practicing sports like wrestling, boxing, swimming, and sailing was not in line with the Olympic Charter.[6] American senator Marsha Blackburn petitioned IOC President Thomas Bach to ban Iran from the Paris Games.[7] The IOC expressed serious concerns over the situation of the Iranian athletes and urged the Iranian Olympic Committee to take appropriate action with the highest authorities to protect the athletes and members of the Olympic community from a humanitarian perspective. The IOC said that it reserves the right to take any appropriate action relating to the participation of the Iranian NOC and athletes in regards to the 2024 Summer Olympics.[8][9]
Iranian canoeists qualified one boat for the Games through the result of the highest ranked eligible nations in the following events, through the 2024 Asian Sprint Canoeing Championships in Tokyo, Japan.
Qualification Legend: FA = Qualify to final (medal); FB = Qualify to final B (non-medal); SF = Qualified for Semifinals; QF = Qualified for Quarterfinals;
Iran entered one male rider to compete in the road race events at the Olympics. The nation's secured those quota through the 2023 Asian Championships in Rayong, Thailand.[12]
Iran entered four fencers into the Olympic competition. The nation's men's sabre team secured quota places in men's sabre events, after being nominated as one of the highest-ranked nations from Asia & Oceania, through the release of the FIE Official ranking for Paris 2024.
Iran entered one gymnast into the games. Mahdi Olfati directly secured his quota to compete at the Olympics by being one of the highest-ranked eligible athlete in the men's vault, through the final accumulations of the 2024 Apparatus World Cup Series rankings and marking the nation's return to the sport since Tokyo 1964.
Qualification Legend: FA=Final A (medal); FB=Final B (non-medal); FC=Final C (non-medal); FD=Final D (non-medal); FE=Final E (non-medal); FF=Final F (non-medal); SA/B=Semifinals A/B; SC/D=Semifinals C/D; SE/F=Semifinals E/F; QF=Quarterfinals; R=Repechage
Iranian shooters achieved quota places for the following events based on their results at the 2022 and 2023 ISSF World Championships, 2023 and 2024 Asian Championships, and 2024 ISSF World Olympic Qualification Tournament.[14][15][16][17][18][19]
Iran qualified one climber for Paris 2024. Reza Alipour qualified directly for the men's speed events, through the 2024 Olympic Qualifier series ranking;[20]marking the nation's debut in these sports.
Iran entered three table tennis players into Paris 2024. Nima Alamian and Neda Shahsavari qualified for the games, following the triumph of winning the gold medals, respectively in men's and women's singles event, at the 2024 Central Asian Qualification Tournament in Tashkent, Uzbekistan;[21] meanwhile Noshad Alamian qualified for the games through the final world ranking.[22]
Iran qualified four athletes to compete at the games. Nahid Kiani qualified for Paris 2024 by virtue of finishing within the top five in the Olympic rankings in her respective division, meanwhile Mehran Barkhordari qualified the games by virtue of finishing first at the Grand Slam Series rankings.[23] Later on Mobina Nematzadeh and Arian Salimi secured a quota places in their respective division, by virtue of their victory in the semifinal round, at the 2024 Asian Olympic Qualification Tournament in Tai'an, China.[24]
Iran entered two weightlifters into the Olympic competition. Mirmostafa Javadi (men's 89 kg) and Ali Davoudi (men's +102 kg) secured one of the top ten slots, in their respective weight division based on the IWF Olympic Qualification Rankings.[25][26]
VB (ranking points: 5–0 or 0–5) – Victory by injury (VF for forfeit, VA for withdrawal or disqualification)
PP (ranking points: 3–1 or 1–3) – Decision by points – the loser with technical points.
PO (ranking points: 3–0 or 0–3) – Decision by points – the loser without technical points.
ST (ranking points: 4–0 or 0–4) – Great superiority – the loser without technical points and a margin of victory of at least 8 (Greco-Roman) or 10 (freestyle) points.
SP (ranking points: 4–1 or 1–4) – Technical superiority – the loser with technical points and a margin of victory of at least 8 (Greco-Roman) or 10 (freestyle) points.
