Iranian athletes at Tokyo Olympics remember murdered wrestler Navid Afkari

An ancient sport, wrestling has long electrified Iran and the United States. Yet in 2020, the Islamic Republic executed the decorated Greco-Roman wrestler Navid Afkari for his role in a 2018 protest against corruption in the theocratic state.

On the one hand, in a video posted by Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad on Twitter, Vahid Sarlak, who defected from the Islamic Republic and now coaches Tajikistan’s national judo team, said from Tokyo, "I wanted to do a small gesture for an Iranian champion. This champion’s rights were violated in Iran. He should have been here now.  "But he is not among us. RIP Navid Afkari. I want to fly this in memory of Navid Afkari in the Olympic Village. So that his soul lives among us forever. In the name of the United for Navid campaign, we’re always thinking of Navid," he continued.