Rashid Sharifi replaces Hossein Rezazadeh

(BEIJING, July 25) -- Iran's Rashid Sharifi will be representing his country in the upcoming Olympics, replacing two-time Olympic champion Hossein Rezazadeh who withdrew from the Games due to injury.

Sharifi is touted as a promising young talent who topped the men's over-105kg competition for snatch, clean and jerk, and total weight during the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Kanazawa, Japan at the end of April, 2008.

Rezazadeh is the world record-holder of this category. He won gold at both the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and has been known as "the world's strongest man" ever since. And he has been the gold medalist of the men's over-105kg competition at all world championships since 2006.

However, he has been retired from international competition since August 2007 because of an injury that he incurred in a car accident. The Beijing Olympics will miss the big man's presence.