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Eerste
wedstrijd van de World Strongman Cup eindigt in chaos! Wedstrijd
stilgelegd door de lokale Iraanse politie!
De
eerste wedstrijd uit de World Strongman Cup serie 2007 is geëindigt
in chaos. Na twee onderdelen werd de wedstrijd zelfs stilgelegd door
de lokale Iraanse politie. De wedstrijd werd gehouden op het
luxieuze Iraanse Kish Island in de Perzische Golf. Maar de strenge Iraanse
gewoonten en gebruiken gelden ook daar en daar kwamen de deelnemers
en organisatie pijnlijk achter. Op enig moment wilden twee
lieftallige Iraanse vrouwen met de Noorse deelnemer Arild Haugen op
de foto. Speciaal voor de foto tilde Arild Haugen de twee vrouwen
op.....fout! In Iran is het verboden voor mannen om vrouwen in het
openbaar aan te raken. De twee vrouwen werden door de Iraanse
politie gearresteerd en even leek het erop dat ook Arild Haugen
gearresteerd zou worden. Arild Haugen werd echter gesommeerd een
excuusbrief te schijven voor de Iraanse politie waarin hij zijn
spijt betuigde van de gebeurtenis. Alleen zo kon Arild een
arrestatie voorkomen. De Iraanse politie legde echter ogenblikkelijk de wedstrijd stil
nad dit incident.
Het was
het resultaat van een toch al chaotisch verlopen aanloop naar de
wedstrijd. De wedstrijd zou eigenlijk op woensdag hadden moeten
beginnen, maar de onderdelen waren nog niet aanwezig. Ook op
donderdag waren de onderdelen nog niet aanwezig. Vrijdagmorgen nog
steeds niet, maar na enkele uren arriveerden de onderdelen dan toch.
Het had een hele mooie wedstrijd moeten worden. Ook onze landgenoot
Raymon Merckx was voor deze wedstrijd uitgenodigd. Begonnen werd met het eerste onderdeel, de truck pull.
Op dat eerste onderdeel eindigde Raymon Merckx als 13e. Geen slecht
resultaat. Het tweede onderdeel was de log lift op herhalingen met
een gewicht van 130 kg. Raymon kwam tot zes herhalingen en stond op
een vijfde plaats. Raivis Vidzis (Letland) stond op dat moment met
negen herhalingen op de eerste plaats. Er hoefden nog slechts vijf
deelnemers, waaronder Mariusz Pudzianowski, maar op dat moment werd
de wedstrijd stilgelegd door de Iraanse politie. Erg jammer, want
Raymon Merckx had in dit veld van 22 sterke deelnemers beslist op
een hele goeie middenmootplek kunnen eindigen. De onderdelen die nog
zouden volgen waren niet echt verkeerd voor Raymon. We zullen het
jammergenoeg niet weten.
Hier
enige passage's over de eerste wedstrijd uit de World Strongman Cup
die zijn verschenen op
www.ironmind.com:
Maandag
12 maart 2007
WSMC Opens in the Persian Gulf
by Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. | ©2007 IronMind
World Strongman Cup (WSMC) Manager Vlad Redkin told IronMind:
“The first stage of the World Strongman Cup 2007 Season of Strength
takes place on March 15 - 16 on the Iranian Kish Island in the
Persian Gulf.”
Once again, WSMC has drawn a field of top international strongman
competitors:
1. Mariusz Pudzianowski - Poland
2. Jeremy Hogg - Australia
3. Tarmo Mitt - Estonia
4. Raivis Vidzis - Latvia
5. Pavel Soroka - Belarus
6. Sergei Rjumin - Belarus
7. Elbrus Nigmatullin - Russia
8. Dmitry Kononec - Russia
9. Florian Trimpl - Germany
10. Boris Haraldsson - Iceland
11. Raymon Merckx - Netherlands
12. Stojan Todorchev - Bulgaria
13. Mark Felix - Grenada
14. Dominic Filiou - Canada
15. Olegs Dudkins - Latvia
16. René Minkwitz - Denmark
17. Arild Haugen - Norway
18. Ralf Ber - Austria
19. Reza Gharaei - Iran
20. Mojtaba Maleki - Iran
21. Majid Dejbarar - Iran
22. Farzad Mosakhani - Iran
Day one events are: truck pull, farmer’s walk (2 x 140 kg, 40 meters
for time), log lift (130 kg for reps), and tire flip. Day two events
are: medley, wheelbarrow, super yoke and loading. All athletes will
compete on both days.
This should be a spectacular contest, not just because of the size
and quality of the field but also because of the setting: For
everyone not familiar with it, Vlad Redkin explained, “Kish Island
used to be the holiday paradise of the Iranian people.”
Maandag
19 maart 2007
World Strongman Cup: Iran Stage Cancelled
by Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. | ©2007 IronMind
Things had started off well, but when two Iranian young women asked
Arild Haugen to lift them, that was the beginning of the end of this
weekend’s World Strongman Cup competition.
The setting was scenic, Kish Island in the Persian Gulf, and the
field was formidable, with a lot of World’s Strongest Man
competitors present, but things went south in a hurry when Arild
Haugen obliged the young Iranian women by lifting them. As World
Strongman Cup Manager Vlad Redkin explained it to IronMind, the lift
was photographed and then the Iranian police stopped the contest,
and arrested both the contest organizer and the two young women.
Although the forced cancellation of this contest “was very terrible”
and posed “a big problem” for World Strongman Cup, Vlad Redkin told
IronMind that he is expecting to bounce back from this. Also, Redkin
said that all the athletes were okay and that he spoke with the
local organizer the next day, and that he had been released by the
police.
More details will follow.
Woensdag
21 maart 2007
Please Tell The World We Need Help
by Randall J. Strossen, Ph.D. | ©2007 IronMind
It began as a strongman contest, but it quickly became much more.
We arrived in Iran on Tuesday,” Arild Haugen told IronMind, “and the
contest should have started on Wednesday,” speaking of the World
Strongman Cup competition in Iran last week.
Wednesday morning, though, there was no equipment, Haugen said, so
the competitors waited until Thursday, and still there was no
equipment, and “Nobody told us anything,” Haugen said. Friday
morning, still no equipment, but then it finally showed up.
The money promised to competitors still had not materialized, Haugen
said, and this was especially problematic since some of the
competitors had paid their own way over, with the promise of
reimbursement along with their prize money. In addition to these
expenses, competitors such as Haugen were taking time off work,
without pay, in order to compete.
At this point, the competitors said that either they got paid or
they would not compete, but eventually a compromise was reached: The
competitors offered to do one event on Friday, and then agreed to do
two events, with the understanding that the money would then have to
be produced or they would not continue, and so things began with the
truck pull, followed by the log press. After the log press, though,
things deteriorated rapidly.
”Two nice girls wanted a photo with me,” Arild Haugen said, “so I
lifted them up. The police grabbed the girls and put them straight
in jail.” None of the competitors were arrested, but Haugen was told
that he had to copy in his own writing and then sign an apology that
the contest organizer had written, which was then going to be
delivered to the police, and he had to sign it “Arild Stupid
Haugen.” Asked if he was afraid that he might be arrested, too,
Haugen said that he expected to be arrested, but he was never
afraid: “I knew they wouldn’t kill me,” he said.
Not everyone had this confidence, because an Iranian citizen who had
been talking to the competitors, and not saying the most favorable
things about the current regime, received a phone call saying that
he was about to be arrested. The man reportedly started crying and
he told the competitors that he expected to be killed. A number of
the competitors gave the man their business cards and offered to do
whatever they could to help him.
It was an eye-opening experience, to say the least, for competitors
who had never been to Iran before and there was a feeling that the
very fact that the Iranian people were enjoying the contest and
having a good time set the stage for the quick and harsh police
reaction - a competitor who danced was reportedly censured, and
another, who held a baby, was also reprimanded, because the baby was
a girl. Competitors were approached by Iranian citizens who begged,
“Please tell the world we need help,” and the police and government
were described as “crazy.”
Svend Karlsen, President of Pro Strongman - Norway, told IronMind
that as a result of this, “No Norweigan athletes will compete in
Iran,” and the whole episode has probably put World Strongman Cup on
a prepaid or cash-on-delivery basis: Next up on the World Strongman
Cup calendar is a competition in Dubai, and IronMind has heard more
than once that unless the money due from Iran, along with some
pre-payment or proof of funds for Dubai, materializes, competitors
will not participate in that contest.
© Real Dutch Power :
26 maart 2007 |
