In a conversation with Sheru Classic website, Akbar Khazaei, the only Iranian IFBB PRO judge, said: Hadi Choopan’s first place in 2022 Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition in Las Vegas showed the complete justice accomplished by Mr. Jim Manion and the huge IFBB PRO organization.
Akbar Khazaei also mentioned: In the past few decades, there have been political conflicts between the statesmen of Iran and the United States, which is why some people in Iran were saying that until Hadi Choopan’s victory in the 2022 Mr. Olympia competition was due to the conflicts between the governments of Iran and the United States. Therefore, as some people argued, the Iranian nationality of Hadi Choopan would never let him reach the first place in the Mr. Olympia competitions. This is while some other people would go further and even considered Hadi Choopan’s religion as a Muslim would be another reason.
Akbar Khazaei added: Despite above facts, in Mr. Olympia 2022, we witnessed that Hadi Choopan won the first place in the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding competition, and with this championship, the speculations and predictions of some people ended, and once again the peak of justice and meritocracy of Mr. Jim Manion and Mr. Tyler Manion were revealed and the IFBB PRO organization proved and showed that in the Mr. Olympia, which is the biggest official professional bodybuilding event in the world, the athletes are judged based on justice by professional judges disregarding the conflicts between governments and the athletes’ religion.
Akbar Khazaei continued: Hadi Choopan has made significant progress in the past few years and he really starred in the final stage of the 2021 Master Olympiad, however, he showed a poorer performance on the preliminary day compared to the final, and if he appeared on the preliminary day as well as on the final day, he could have achieved a higher place.
Regarding Hadi Choopan’s championship renewal in the 2023 Mr. Olympia competition, Akbar Khazaei said that every year we witnessed the significant progress and growth of Hadi’s muscles, and considering Hadi’s age and Rambod’s knowledge, this trend will definitely continue, but we should not neglect the genetics and talent of Derek Lunsford, because he also has good genetics and has made extraordinary progress and thus can be a serious alarm for Hadi.
In his resume, Akbar Khazaei is proud of such titles as international Asian and World judging and coaching, coaching of Iran’s national fitness team, writing articles, conducting scientific research on bodybuilding and professional bodybuilding championship and so on. Nevertheless, currently he works only as a judge of IFBB Pro-logue and has bid farewell from the world of coaching, champion raising and judging in other leagues.
At the end of this conversation, he said: The Sheru Classic Competitions of India are held every year under the management of Mr. Sheru at a very professional and special level, and I have always encouraged Iranian athletes to participate in this competition and I hope that one day I will be able taking part in such competitions.
