I’m going to just cut to the chase. I’m not going to give you a long preamble and I’m not going to talk to you about the history of Iran post-1979. What I am going to tell you is that the United States is at war. Did we formally declare war? No, but are we in a war? Yes. And it’s a war that’s very similar to the 12-day war two years ago in that we’re fighting Iran, yet again. Even after we dropped the mother of all bombs, several of them on each nuclear facility, the Iranians from what we understand resumed their operations towards getting a nuclear weapon. To the detractors, I say I’m the last person that would support a police action like this, but anybody that’s using nuclear energy just for energy purposes does not have facilities that are located hundreds of meters into a mountain. The only reason you do that is to develop a weapon. So, to those that say the Iranians are being unjustly attacked, get over it, you’re out of your mind. Plus they have a regime that’s been ruthlessly squashing dissent and denying the people freedom.
Now with regards to Hadi Choopan and his competing at the Arnold Classic, there are a lot of different factors that come into play. Now, Hadi wasn’t vocally supporting the regime, but there were factors (like his screensaver) and his silence that caused some social media concerns. Also, in the last few days, several big name bodybuilders have chimed in.
Hadi Choopan is predicted to win. And with winning comes of a victory speech. There may be many victory speeches. There could be the victory speech on stage and there could be the victory speech at the banquet, and there could be victory speeches throughout the city of Columbus. Because at the end of the day the Arnold Classic is not a single day’s event. It’s multiple days and there’s days before the contest and there’s days after the contest. Even days after the contest has concluded, Columbus keeps seeing big names who decided to stay later or who are working for their sponsors. It’s like the whole world converges in one city for the second biggest contest in sport. It’s very similar to the Olympia. And for the guys who live overseas, the longer they’re in the city, the longer they can do shoots, training sessions at gyms with hardcore fans, and/or potentially do media appearances. Therefore, if Hadi wins, he might be local for a while and then there’s the fear of what he may or may not say. At this point, Hadi will be watched closely by fans and haters alike. This is certainly not the ideal setting for peak week. It might explain why the champ is not nearly as active on socials as just weeks prior.
Like I said the optics of it all would be a little problematic. Problematic at best. Now with the death of the Ayatollah in airstrikes yesterday Saturday February 28th, the political lines are even more blatant. The world has recognized this. The supreme leader is dead. And the reason why this is so relevant to a story about Hadi Choopan is because that leader was a screensaver that Hadi had on his cell phone. That screensaver, in part, caused all of his problems in the world of bodybuilding. Because of that screensaver and because of his silence during the protests that have been seen throughout his country in opposition to the regime, he is potentially somebody who could say something that would really upset the apple cart should he win the contest.
Aside from what he may say, there’s the question of whether or not the impact of the news and the war could potentially sabotage his prep. Again, I don’t know if that’s the case or not, but we do know that he pulled back from his Instagram for a period of time because he didn’t want to deal with all the drama. well, when your country is at war and your supreme leader is dead, I would imagine that that type of drama is a lot more than the usual Instagram variety. Therefore, I can’t imagine that no matter how deep Hadi’s tunnel vision may be, I can’t imagine that the news doesn’t register on some level in his inner psyche. And if it does register somewhere in his inner psyche, I can’t imagine how it doesn’t alter his mood or affect his cortisol levels. Like I said, I don’t wish the guy anything bad. I want to see him be successful, but this kind of stress isn’t good on any physique-based athlete.
The other thing that I think goes without saying but we should say it just the same is the tension between Hadi and big names in the sport. King Kamali is none too happy with him. And even Armon Adibi, who’s as chill as they come, seems somewhat annoyed. Does that mean that either guy is going to have words with Hadi if they run into each other? I highly doubt it. At the end of the day, these are all professional athletes and despite whatever may be happening in current events, I tend to think they will keep things civil. If not for the contest, then for the sport. The last thing anyone wants to see is drama. That just hurts the sport. I get people have strong feelings about what’s happening in Iran, but this is a physique-based sport event.
All in all, this is a really bad time for Hadi, and I want to show him support. But I also want to caution him from using a win in Columbus as some sort of a political soapbox to address the country and the world. I don’t think he would do something like that, but you just never know. I know some of you are going to be mad at me for daring to tell another man what to say or do, but I just think that right now our country is at war, and unfortunately it’s with Hadi’s country. If Hadi wins the event, I just hope he’s not going to say anything divisive. I highly doubt that he would, but the mere fact that I don’t know for sure is the reason I wrote this article. I also wrote this article because I don’t want anybody to get in Hadi’s face, get loud with him, or much less put hands on him. He has every right to believe in whatever he wants just like you have every right to believe in whatever you want. Leave the man alone. He’s there to compete as a bodybuilder. End of story.
As always, what’s your take on the whole situation? As always, I hope you enjoyed reading my article, here at IronMag. I look forward to reading your feedback in the comments. Please be sure to copy and paste a link to this article on all your social media feeds. It’s bound to generate lively conversation.
Author Bio:
Christian I. Duque is the owner of StrengthAddicts.com, a physique and strength website founded in 2008. He has worked for a number of bodybuilding websites, including RX Muscle and Muscular Development. Christian has written nearly 1,000 published articles for IronMag Blog, as well as articles for StrengthAddicts, RX Muscle, and others. By day, he is also a licensed attorney practicing in the areas of family law, immigration, and criminal defense.
