2006 the Rezazadeh Stadium was built in Rezazadeh's hometown of Ardabil. It was built to honour the achievements of Rezazadeh and is one of the most modern and innovative indoor arenas in Iran today. In early 2008 Rezazadeh participated in a television commercial promoting a real estate agency based in Dubai. His participation surprised many of his fans and was seen as demeaning to both himself and his country, given the promotion of buying estates in a land deemed as a rival. This eventually led to the decision of the Iranian Majles to ban any sort of sponsorship from any high-profile Iranian - i.e. athlete, actor, singer - for any sort of product or service, due to the direct encouragement of product consumerism. In 2008, Rezazadeh was advised by Dr. Mohammad Ali Shahi, his physician and medical athletic trainer, not to participate in the 2008 Olympics due to his severe hand injuries and his high blood pressure. To his fans' surprise and disappointment he officially announced in a letter read via National Iranian Television that he had accepted the advice. The next day Rezazdeh wrote another public letter announcing his retirement from professional weightlifting. He said "I am pretty sure that my fellow country men will repeat my accomplishments again and I hope my son Abulfazl will break my own records in future". Immediately following his retirement Rezazdeh was appointed as the Prime Counselor for Iranian national weight lifting federation. In September 2008, Rezazadeh was named manager and head coach of Iran's national weightlifting team. In January 2009, he was blamed for positive results of the steroid tests of four Iranian weightlifters. Later on, one of the team members, Saeid Alihosseini accused him of using steroids in 2006. Rezazadeh has publicly vowed to fight doping in weightlifting. Political career Rezazadeh was elected as a member of City Council of Tehran in 2013 local elections. Major result World records Notes and references Before May 1, 2005, the totals in weightlifting were calculated by adding the result from the snatch and clean & jerk to the nearest 2.5 kg. This is why his 2004 Olympic performance adds up as 472.5 kg. 473.5 is not divisible by 2.5, thus it is rounded down to 472.5. External links 1978 births Living people Iranian strength athletes Iranian male weightlifters World Weightlifting Championships medalists Olympic gold medalists for Iran Olympic weightlifters of Iran People from Ardabil