Mohammad Alirezaei

Who is Mohammad Alirezaei?

Mohammad Alirezaei Dizicheh is an Iranian breaststroke swimmer.

By qualifying for the 2008 Summer Olympics, Alirezaei became the first Iranian ever to qualify for an Olympic swimming event without using wildcard. However, according to team officials, Alirezaei fell ill before his event, and was taken to a hospital in Beijing. Several other media reports stated Alirezaei had been ordered by Iranian authorities to withdraw from the competition to avoid swimming against Israeli swimmer Tom Be'eri.

Giselle Davies, director of communications for the IOC, stated that Alirezaei had confirmed in writing that he withdrew from the men's 100 metre breaststroke because of illness and that the committee would take Alirezaei at his word. Iran could have faced sanctions had the IOC decided that Alirezaei pulled out of the race because an Israeli was scheduled to compete. Giselle Davies, director of communications for the IOC, said that Alirezaei withdrew because of sickness and submitted his case in writing to his Federation. Davies stated that "We take both the athlete and the [Iranian] National Olympic Committee at their word on this."