Statements of Meeting with Champions and Athletes of Asian and Para-Asian Competitions

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Welcome, dear ones, youth, champions! I am pleased to meet you. If I could, I would like to see each of you up close and thank you; however, your numbers are quite large, and it is not possible. I ask the Almighty God to bestow His grace and guidance upon all of you, your brothers, sisters, coaches, and managers.

After every competition, whenever our youth achieve victory in any arena, I express my special gratitude to them. Your victory, your championship conveys a sense of pride to our nation. This is important for a nation. Enemies of nations have always tried to humiliate those nations. Humiliation is not just about insulting or cursing them; the most significant humiliation is to instill a sense of inferiority in their hearts. When a nation neglects its own distinctions, advantages, and values, it sees itself as small and insignificant; such a nation will not progress; any worthless person will dominate such a nation. Nations must recognize their own honors. You see that nations without a glorious history or significant past fabricate their own past, create history, and develop personalities in movies and similar mediums. Meanwhile, a nation like ours, with its brilliant past and the high peak it has reached throughout history in civilization, culture, science, and humanity, has been made to feel inferior over many years; you hear and see the statements made that overlook national honors. For a nation to feel pride is a step toward greater honors. I derive great pleasure from seeing our youth victorious in sports and dedicating this victory to their nation; it brings joy to the nation both in words and actions; it instills a sense of pride in the hearts of the people; this is a great blessing for me; I convey my message and express my gratitude. What I say is much less and smaller than what I feel in my heart; therefore, I thank you all.

There is an important point: when you stand on the podium of champions in any form, you are exposed to the view of hundreds of millions of people around the world; your demeanor and behavior represent your nation, your culture, and your national character. It is very important how you act. The young woman who goes on the podium wearing a hijab shows that she is resilient against the visible and invisible assaults from anti-culture, anti-religion, and anti-purity centers in the world; this woman demonstrates a character; in fact, she introduces her nation. The young man who prostrates in gratitude after victory, or loudly proclaims the names of religious greats, or wears a shirt with the name of Fatimah al-Zahra (peace be upon her) or the name of Abalfazl (peace be upon him) inscribed on it, is introducing his nation; he is introducing the spirituality of his nation and alongside that, he is introducing the resilience of his nation.

Today, all international and global propaganda efforts aim to remove spirituality, to secularize, to strip away chastity and purity; this is part of the Zionist agenda worldwide, and they are advancing and becoming worse day by day. Look at the films and stories and compare the portrayal of European women fifty years ago or a hundred years ago with today. Compare the sexual ethics of Western Europe fifty years ago, a hundred years ago with today, and see how much it has changed? The moral decline reaches a point where if you declare that you do not accept homosexuality, you are attacked! It is quite strange. They take pride in immorality and nudity, they take pride in the disregard for sexual ethics; this is exactly what our narrations say, that what is known becomes unknown, and what is unknown becomes known; this has now materialized in the West. The media empire, with all its might - which today is thousands of times larger than it was fifteen or twenty years ago, with social networks and internet methods - and with this vast array of resources is promoting anti-spirituality and anti-ethics. In this atmosphere, the Iranian youth comes and represents spirituality; what does this mean? This means that this heart, this soul, this spirit is capable of standing against this massive wave of deviation. This is what introduces you. It is true that you endure hardships in the sports arena to achieve championship - whether on the wrestling mat, in weightlifting, or in team sports and similar activities - you work hard, you push yourself, you persevere, but this spiritual resilience in the eyes of the discerning people of the world is no less than that physical resilience; sometimes it is even greater; and it shows that this nation is one that can stand against the pressures of harmful and destructive propaganda.

In a world that prefers women in such a manner and takes pride in it - a few years ago, I saw an American magazine that featured young women serving in a restaurant, characterized by nudity or semi-nudity; the restaurant owner takes pride in this and publishes his photo, the restaurant's photo, and the photo of those girls in the magazine - in such a world that promotes harmful and destructive nudity, our young woman stands there or our young man refuses to shake hands with the woman who wants to place the medal around his neck; these actions are very valuable. It is not that we want to promote someone who does a good deed out of religious bias; these are signs of resilience and steadfastness and the strong metal of the Iranian nation; these are what give value to a nation. Appreciate these; promote them as much as you can. Spirituality in sports also helps sports and contributes to national dignity. Thanks be to God, our youth are devout.

Avoid legal violations strictly; whether international violations or legal violations related to the country. It should not be the case that the meaning of champion-centeredness in sports is that any violation is overlooked; no, a violation is a violation; from top to bottom; officials and non-officials, elites and non-elites, scientific champions and sports champions and industrial champions and political champions, when they commit a violation, they should be treated like any other violation. Negligence and laxity in sports matters are not appropriate.

Well, we thank you; especially for these Asian competitions - both for the competitions of the dear disabled and the other competitions - that took place and, thanks be to God, you returned with full hands. I was following and watching. I am not one to sit and watch television reports and similar things, meaning I do not have the time, but when the news is presented, I watch with enthusiasm and interest, and I thank God that you returned with honors; you should also thank God; thank God. When you achieve an honor, this honor is from God: وَ ما بِکم مِن نِعمَةٍ فَمِنَ الله; every blessing you have is given by God: the physical ability you have is given by God; the willpower and decision-making that takes precedence in sports and championship, that is given by God; this decision-making power is given by God; this victory is also given by God. Be grateful to the Almighty God. Gratitude to God also has its requirements.

Well, you young people who achieve victory in sports arenas in any form gain popularity among the people. Popularity also has its requirements, it has its troubles after all; these must be endured.

Firstly, when you gain popularity, try to ensure that this popularity is not only on the ground. In the visitation of Aminullah, you read: مَحبوبَةً فی اَرضِک وَ سَمائِک; this popularity is good; be beloved both on earth and in the heavens; may the angels of God love you in the highest assembly; may the pure souls of the saints love you.

Secondly, when you become popular among the youth of the country, they look up to you, they learn from you; you become a role model. Every good action of yours sometimes generates millions of good actions among the youth; see how valuable that is! A good deed you do, a good ethic, a good behavior, a good word, a good intention that appears from you - because you become a role model - multiplies into millions; this is very valuable; it leads to the propagation of good in society. Enjoining good means doing something to make good things prevalent; with your actions, you perform a practical enjoining of good. If, God forbid, the opposite happens, it is the same; if this role model in some place, in some aspect, performs an action that is not in accordance with ethics and piety and purity, this also becomes a role model - if people understand - so be careful about this; this also multiplies. Therefore, becoming a champion, becoming popular, gaining a place in the hearts of the people is a double-edged sword; it is very good if we can adhere to its requirements; it is dangerous if, God forbid, we cannot adhere to its requirements. These are my remarks to you.

The points that the esteemed Minister of Sports mentioned were good points; these headings are good headings; what he mentioned was also in my mind to say prioritize, and to promote public sports; public sports mean the overall health of the nation. Of course, in the past, some had reservations about competitive sports, I have always defended competitive sports - for various reasons that some of which I have mentioned and are clear - but public sports, meaning the general physical health of the nation, which unfortunately is not as it should be today. Well, you observe urban life; lack of movement, unsuitable foods, imitation foods that are provided in some of these stores and people tend to favor them, and primarily lack of movement, these weaken the bodies of the nation; bodies must be strong; they must be healthy; this is achieved through public sports; pay attention to that.

Furthermore, good sports children, devout sports children who actually promote good deeds in society, do not be afraid of the marginalization that sometimes occurs; do not pay any importance to it. Whenever you do a good deed, those who are on the lookout to criticize every good deed in these yellow press and similar outlets and on social networks start attacking; do not pay any attention to them; look to see what the reality is, what is valuable, what do the aware hearts understand and want; pay attention to that.

In any case, we thank the Almighty God for your existence and we are happy that our country is, thanks be to God, a champion-producing country; not only in sports arenas - where you are - but in all fields, our country is a champion-producing country; in the field of science, our country is also champion-producing; we create champions. The Iranian society and the Islamic Revolution and the sacred Islamic Republic system are champion-producing in the field of science, in the field of ethics, and in various fields; of course, they constantly try to undermine this, belittle it, humiliate it, but the reality is as I have stated; champion production in this country is, thanks be to God, a trend, and we must increase this day by day; and this is in your hands, in the hands of the officials, in the hands of all those who influence the mentalities of society.

Once again, I thank you all, I entrust you to the great God, and I will pray for all of you.

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.