Iran’s globally-renowned bodybuilder and the champion of the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB), Baitollah Abbaspour, has passed away after a hard-fought battle with Vasculitis, a rare disorder that involves inflammation in blood vessels.
Abbaspour went into a coma at Atiyeh Hospital in northwest of the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Tuesday morning and was immediately put on a ventilator. He died at the age of 36 later in the day at 11:15 p.m. (1845 GMT).
He was the first and, to date, the only Iranian to advance to the final round of the Masters Olympia – an international bodybuilding competition held annually by the IFBB, and had put in outstanding performances at various national and international sporting events.
Born in 1979 in the city of Bijar in the western Iranian province of Kordestan, Abbaspour grew up in Karaj, situated 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Tehran.
He finished runner-up in Iran’s 2000 national bodybuilding championships staged in the central city of Isfahan, claimed the title of the 2003 national bodybuilding contests, and shone at the 2003 edition of the World Amateur Bodybuilding Championships in Mumbai, India.
Abbaspour landed in the third place at the 2005 World Amateur Bodybuilding Championships in the Chinese city of Shanghai, and continued to exhibit impressive displays in the following years.
He was diagnosed with Vasculitis earlier this year, and hospitalized as a result.
Vasculitis is an inflammation of blood vessels. The disorder forces changes in the walls of blood vessels, namely thickening, weakening, narrowing and scarring. The changes impede blood circulation, and eventually lead to organ and tissue damage.