Iranian weightlifter Kianoush Rostami announced that he will auction the gold medal he won in the 2016 Rio Olympics to raise money for victims of the deadly earthquake that struck the Iran-Iraq border on November 12. At least 530 people were killed and 7,800 people were injured.
Rostami’s hometown of Kermanshah was hit the worst by the quake. On Tuesday, the 26-year-old Olympic medalist said on his Instagram profile that he was “taking a step, however small” to help those affected, according to Iran’s national Olympic committee. “I am returning my Rio 2016 Olympics gold medal – which actually belongs to them – to my people,” he wrote in the widely-shared post, the BBC reported.
Thousands who lost their homes in the earthquake have been sleeping outdoors in near-freezing temperatures. There have been nearly 200 aftershocks since the quake struck regions along the border with Iraq. At least 14 provinces in Iran were hit and two villages were completely destroyed.
Rostami won his medal last summer while also breaking a world record, The Washington Post reported.
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