Only conflict is on the mats
An area man finds wrestling arena peaceable for Americans, Iranians.
By BOB PUTNAM
Published March 6, 2007
Two men stepped onto a mat half a world away.
They shook hands. They crouched. Their heads almost butted.
They pulled and tugged at each other. They probed for an exposed shoulder, or neck, to grab hold of. Each looked for a way to take the other down.
One man represented America.
The other Iran.
Jared Frayer shot forward and wrapped his arms around Omid Kadkhodaee. Both tumbled to the mat. Advantage: Frayer, the American.
All around them, thousands of Iranians cheered wildly.
For both men.
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Frayer, 28, and a three-time state champion at Countryside High, was one of 14 Americans who wrestled in Iran on Jan. 18-19.
They were the first American athletes to travel to Iran since Tehran's reformers were defeated by its current hard-line leadership in 2005.
They competed in the Takhti Cup, the top wrestling tournament in Iran, a nation obsessed with the sport for centuries.
A nation, President Bush declared in his 2002 State of the Union address, that is a third of the "axis of evil," along with North Korea and Iraq.
But then, U.S.-Iranian relations have long been complicated.
The 1953 American-backed coup. The 1979 exile of the American-backed shah. The 444-day Iranian hostage crisis. The Iran-Contra scandal. The U.S. Navy shooting down an Iranian civilian airliner in 1988, killing 290. The 1989 fatwa calling for the death of British-Indian author Salman Rushdie. The latest chapter: Iran's nuclear program.
The United States and Iranian governments are, at the very least, estranged.
But are the people?
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Frayer's trip to Iran mystified friends, frightened family, made people wonder what in heaven's name he was risking for the sake of his sport.
"We knew there was a lot of trouble over there," said Frayer's mother, Vicki.
It was just five years ago, in the aftermath of Sept. 11, that an American wrestling team decided not to go to Tehran for a tournament because the State Department knew of threats made against the wrestlers.
Now, there was new tension.
President Bush had accused Iran and Syria of fueling bloodshed in Iraq and vowed the U.S. military would prevent them from supplying militants there.
"Jared has a lot of friends from high school who are overseas, and I worry about them," Vicki Frayer said. "I just never thought my son would be going over there, too."
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Sports is one place where Americans and Iranians have found common ground. The countries have competed in the Olympics and in World Cup matches.
It wasn't until the past decade that diplomatic hopes were pinned on wrestling.
Since 1998, USA Wrestling has competed in Iranian tournaments six times, counting its most recent visit. And Iran has sent teams to wrestling tournaments in the United States.
The exchanges were encouraged by reformist President Mohammad Khatami as a way to bring down "the wall of mistrust" between the two nations.
The tournaments stopped, though, when hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005.
In an attempt to appeal to the Iranian public, the State Department has renewed wrestling trips through a series of professional and educational exchanges.
"These tournaments are a good way for people from countries to see each other in a different light," said Amir Bashiri, an Iranian-American who served as the USA team leader, bridging the language and cultural gaps for Frayer and his teammates. "Americans can come here and see not everything is the way it is in the news. Same thing with the Iranians coming to America.
"It brings us closer together."
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Frayer and his teammates, wearing jackets emblazoned "USA Wrestling," were greeted in Bandar Abbas by local officials and young girls in traditional Iranian dresses who handed them bouquets of white and pink flowers.
But even sports cannot escape politics.
On their way to the tournament, the wrestlers noticed a banner unfurled along the wall of the arena that read: "Peaceful use of nuclear technology is our legitimate right."
"It seemed like that banner was strategically placed so we could see it," Frayer said. "It definitely let us know there was a lot more going on than just a wrestling tournament."
The fears dissipated in the thunderous applause that greeted the Americans when they entered Fadger Sports Hall, decked out with colorful Persian rugs surrounding three mats.
The arena was built for 2,000 spectators. Roughly 3,000 packed inside each night. Matches were televised live and made front-page news.
The USA wrestlers danced to the beat of native drums. They lapped the arena and showed locals how to high-five.
"Their fans came out of the woodwork," Frayer said. "They were beating on drums, playing whistles and flutes, yelling out chants that everyone knew there. It was a pretty wild environment."
The Americans were under heavy security, escorted by police as they left the venue each day for the hotel as a cautionary measure to prevent any attacks.
But there was never any friction. The wrestlers got VIP treatment wherever they went. As they mingled in local marketplaces, signed autographs and traded pins for pistachios, Iranians who recognized them came up to say "hello" or "welcome" in English.
"Actually, the security was needed more to keep the fans away who wanted to touch us or get an autograph," USA Wrestling director Rich Bender said. "They made us feel like kings."
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Frayer jumped at the chance to go anywhere to wrestle. The tournament in Iran was only part of his latest trip. He also went to Siberia.
The former All-American at the University of Oklahoma was gunning for a last shot at making the Olympic team. He quit his job as an assistant coach at Harvard and moved to the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
And the Takhti Cup was in the very kind of rabid environment that made the challenge beguiling.
After all, American wrestlers are better known in wrestling-crazy Iran than at home.
"I've always said if I ever get the chance, I would go to Iran and wrestle," Frayer said.
"And I would do it again."
Bob Putnam can be reached at 727 445-4169 or putnam@sptimes.comFrayer's trip
Jan. 19-19: Wrestled in Takhti Cup in Bandar Abbas, Iran. Frayer wrestled in the first match of the tournament and defeated an Iranian. He lost his other bout.
Jan 24-28: Flew to Siberia to wrestle in the Ivan Yarygin Tournament in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. Frayer and his teammates arrived at 3 a.m. The temperature was minus-60 degrees. And hundreds of media and fans awaited their arrival. The top wrestlers each received a Mercedes, and the winners in each weight class received $10,000. Frayer finished 1-1.
Jan. 29: Traveled to Nalchik, Russia, for a dual meet against the Russian National Team. Frayer lost his only match.