According to the Public Relations Department of the Iranian Rowing Federation, the sixth edition of the Islamic Solidarity Games has ended, and statistics tell us which federations contributed the most to the youth and medal winning in our country’s team. Take a look at these statistics:

Only one athlete under the age of 17 won gold in the Iranian contingent; Mahsa Beheshti in weightlifting.

Only three athletes under the age of 20 won gold in the Iranian contingent, two of whom were younger weightlifters; Mahsa Beheshti and Ilia Salehipour (the third is Saina Karimi in taekwondo).

Only 10 athletes under the age of 20 in the Iranian contingent won medals, 4 of whom were weightlifters (along with 3 taekwondo athletes, 2 swimmers, and 1 table tennis player). And of course, weightlifting, which had the largest share of the Iranian contingent’s medal tally with 15 medals, was won by young athletes between the ages of 16 and 20.

Especially in the women’s division, what happened was a historic success. Three weightlifters, whose average age was less than 18, won one gold medal and five bronze medals.

This statistic is noteworthy when we know that the Iranian women’s national weightlifting team won only one gold and five bronze medals in the previous edition of the Islamic Solidarity Games, but it was won by Seyedeh Elham Hosseini, 33, and Popak Basami, 29, with an average age of 31.

The weightlifting federation, along with the taekwondo and swimming federations, achieved brilliant results despite the youthfulness of their teams.

Weightlifting with 2 golds, 4 silvers and 9 bronzes, taekwondo with 2 golds, 2 silvers and 4 bronzes, and swimming with 1 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronzes were undoubtedly the leaders among the federations that sent their young teams to the Islamic Solidarity Games. This youthfulness and these medals mean that these federations are moving in the right direction; a path that will bear fruit very soon, at the Nagoya Asian Games and then at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.