Iranian athlete stripped of Paralympics gold medal over banned flag

A Paralympic athlete has been sensationally stripped of his gold medal after he unfurled a banned flag during his celebrations.

Iranian Paralympic athlete Sadegh Beit Sayah has been stripped of his gold medal over a banned flag.

Beit Sayah won the F41 javelin final on Saturday after he set a new Paralympic record with a throw of 47.64 metres.

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While he celebrated the historic moment shortly after the competition came to an end, his joy turned to heartbreak moments before the medal ceremony.

The 37-year-old athlete was sensationally stripped of his gold medal after receiving two yellow cards during the event.

His first yellow card came in the middle of the event when his celebratory gesture of running a finger across his neck, the gesture was interpreted as unsportsmanlike by the referee.

The second came after he had won the event as he unfurled a black flag with red writing on it. It was the flag of Hazrat Umm al-Banin.

The religious flag was a breach of the International Paralympics Committee regulations and saw him shown a second yellow card and subsequent disqualification.

Beit Sayah's gesture after breaking the record

The flag which resulted in a second yellow card.

The official Paralympics website listed his disqualification under rule 8.1 of the IPC regulations: “The IPC Code of Ethics and the World Para Athletics Code of Conduct (both located on the IPC website) shall apply to all participants of World Para Athletics Recognised Competitions.

“Any breach of these Regulations shall be determined in accordance with the procedures outlined in the World Para Athletics Code of Conduct.”

The religious flag breached rule 1.11 of the IPC Code of Ethics.

“Refrain from using the Paralympic Games and the Paralympic Movement to promote any political agenda, other than the advancement of sport for persons with an impairment and democracy, empowerment, equality, and the protection of human rights.”

Iran launched an appeal to have the disqualification overturned, but they were unsuccessful in their attempts.

Sadegh Beit Sayah thought it was gold. Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Beit Sayah expressed his disappointment at being disqualified and stated he had brought out a similar flag during the Tokyo Games when he won the silver medal.

“When the competition was over and the results were announced, we found out that he had been disqualified, so we immediately went to the authorities and announced our strong protest,” Aliasghar Hadizadeh, head of Iran’s Para-Athletics Association, told the Iranian media agency, Tasnim News.

“After our protest, a meeting was held and the videos of the competition were shown. Considering that every athlete has a kind of happiness. Some of Shadi Beit Sayah’s behaviour was not approved by the referee, and our athlete was disqualified.

“Usually, when athletes break the record, they pass their hands past their necks as a sign of breaking this record, which took a different interpretation and showed the first yellow card to Beit Sayah.”

Indian athlete Navdeep Singh was promoted to gold, with China’s Sun Pengxiang and Iraq’s Wildan Nukhailawi taking silver and bronze respectively.

Originally published as Iranian athlete stripped of Paralympics gold medal over banned flag