TEHRAN – No matter how many years passed, Gholamreza Takhti will remain in hearts of the Iranian people. Today is his date of birth. Happy birthday Pahlevan.

Takhti is the most popular athlete of Iran in the 20th century, although so many of Iranian athletes have won more international medals than he won but he is still a hero to many Iranians.

Takhti was found dead in his room in Atlantic Hotel in Tehran on Jan. 7, 1968. His funeral drew hundreds of thousands of mourners at the Ibn Babawayh Cemetery in his birthplace.

He won a gold medal in the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne and two silvers in 1952 Helsinki and 1960 Rome and narrowly missed a fourth Olympic medal at Tokyo 1964 when he finished fourth.

Takhti tended to act fairly when competing against rivals during his career, something which originated from traditional values of Zurkhaneh, a kind of heroic behavior that epitomizes chivalrous qualities known as Javanmardi.

A famous example was a match against Russian wrestler Alexander Medved who had an injured right knee. When Takhti found out that his opponent was injured, he avoided touching the injured leg and tried to attack the other leg instead. Takhti lost, but he valued honorable behavior.

Takhti is not famous for what he achieved in the mat, he is famous for what he did in the life.

You will always remain in our hearts.