Iran bars U.S. wrestlers from World Cup in response to President Trump's executive order
Iran will bar U.S. wrestlers from a major international meet this month, the country’s foreign ministry announced Friday. The decision is in response to President Donald Trump’s recent executive order, which bars visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran.
Iran announced Saturday that it would bar all U.S. citizens from visiting the country in response to Trump’s executive order. The U.S. wrestlers thought they would receive a special exemption to be able to compete in the Freestyle World Cup, which will take place in western Iran from Feb 16-17.
“Training comes to a halt. We’re like ‘OK, what do we do now? Where do we go? Where do we compete?'” said Jordan Burroughs, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist and four-time world champion, to the Associated Press. “I’m just bummed. I love Iran. I love their people, and I don’t get into politics. I wasn’t going to make a political stance. I was going to compete.”
United World Wrestling President Nenad Lalovic said in a statement that both national federations are working together on a finding a solution that would allow the Americans to compete. In 1998, the U.S. wrestlers became the first American sports team to visit Iran when they participated at the World Cup in Tehran.
“I’ve been encouraged this week by the cooperation and friendship of the Iranian Wrestling Federation and USA Wrestling,” Lalovic said. “As we’ve seen over the years, wrestling is a sport that unites people and nations.”
Last year’s World Cup was held at the Inglewood Forum in Los Angeles. Iran is a powerhouse in the sport, having won the competition five years in a row.
“These decisions, these executive decisions, are always so far beyond your reach,” Burroughs told the AP. “Like, you always feel like ‘Well, the presidency or these strict laws or these Muslim bans or whatever you like to call them, they’ll never affect me.’ This is one of the few times where something so personal has occurred. Almost like it [was] handed down from the president to us. It’s a bummer.”
