Hadi Saei, the President of Iran Taekwondo Federation and the most honorable Iranian Olympian with a record of 3 Olympic medals, was awarded the title of Best Olympic Medalist of Beijing 2008.
Iran NOC; Tehran: The celebration
of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the World Taekwondo was held in
the Heydar Aliyev Hall in Baku where the best of Olympic history were selected
and introduced. In this ceremony, Hadi Saei, the President of Iranian Taekwondo
Federation, who is the most honored Olympic athlete of Iran with two gold
medals at the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Olympics and a bronze at the Sydney 2000
Olympic Games, was selected as the "Best Taekwondo Player in 2008".
The Iranian Taekwondo star competed
in the 2008 Olympic Games in a higher weight category and advanced to the final
against players from Nepal, China and the Republic of Azerbaijan. In the final
match, Hadi Saei managed to bag the only gold medal of the Iranian sports delegation
in this edition of the games, despite the fact that he was four points behind
his Italian rival.