San Francisco attorney Payam Saljoughian may be only 4,241 in the CrossFit world rankings. But technically he is Iran’s #1 CrossFit athlete.
That ranking is enough to qualify him for next week’s Reebok Crossfit Games World Championship. At the competition in Madison, Wisconsin, the 32 year-old CrossFitter will be the first athlete ever to represent Iran at the games.
“I’m incredibly excited for the opportunity to compete with athletes I have followed for years, and proud of the fact that I will be representing my Iranian nationality,” Saljoughian says.
Payam Saljoughian Connect with His Roots through Sports
The Oakland native is a huge sports fan and proud of his Iranian roots. His parents came to the US for graduate school decades ago and settled down.
Saljoughian played water polo in high school and swam competitively all throughout his years at the University of California Santa Cruz. He then started doing marathons, triathlons and ultra-marathons. In 2011, he got into CrossFit and has been rising in the national rankings ever since.
Aside from being active in California’s large CrossFit community, Saljoughian enthusiastically follows Iranian sports. “I’ve attended all of the Iran games at the last two World Cups in Russia and Brazil,” he says. “I obsessively follow Iran football, weightlifting, wrestling and other sports.”
Dual Citizenship Helps Payam Saljoughian Qualify
Saljoughian’s parents made sure their son had Iranian citizenship alongside his American citizenship. Dual citizenship created an unexpected opportunity this year, when CrossFit changed its qualifying system to one based on citizenship.
“The US is very competitive in CrossFit, so I would have zero chance to qualify as American,” Saljoughian admits. “But I was able to qualify as an Iranian.”
While training extra hard to take on the Crossfit Games’ world-class athletes, he is thrilled to be part of the competition. “It is pretty exciting for me to represent Iran and be able to compete at the highest level of the sport.”
Payam Saljoughian’s Impressive CrossFit Numbers
In his professional life, Saljoughian is a senior counsel at Hanson Bridgett, practicing health law. He works with hospitals, senior care and nursing facilities, and other senior care and housing providers.
In his sporting life, Saljoughian clearly takes good care of his own health. At 5 foot 9 inches and 175 pounds, he dead-lifts 425 pounds, back squats 325 pounds, can do 41 hanging pull-ups in a row, and runs a 5k in 17:19.
Those statistics may not be enough to win the championship, but they are nonetheless quite impressive. As an upbeat Saljoughian states: “It all worked out. I am hoping to do as well as I can.”
