Fatemeh Keshavarz, a national weightlifting athlete, disappeared in Spain.
The Iranian Weightlifting Federation states that Fatemeh Keshavarz, a member of Iran’s national youth team at the world championships, has left the team’s hotel.
The 2024 World Youth Championships are being hosted by Spain. The Iranian Weightlifting Federation has reported that the 71kg national athlete from Iran left the hotel and turned off her mobile phone.
In the city of León, Spain, in the girls’ 71kg category, Fatemeh Keshavarz and Reyhaneh Karimi from Iran ranked eighth and thirteenth in the world with records of 210kg and 203kg, respectively.
The Iranian Weightlifting Federation is unaware of Ms. Keshavarz’s current status but emphasized that the Iranian team officials are following up, and the matter has been reported to the Spanish police.
In the 2022 World Youth Championships hosted by Greece, Yekta Jamali from the Iranian youth weightlifting team also refused to return to Iran. She was a member of the Refugee Team of the International Olympic Committee at the 2024 Paris Olympics.