Erfan Nazarbegi

Erfan Nazarbegi (April 11, 1996 – September 29, 2022)

Erfan Nazarbegi, born on April 11, 1996, was a 26-year-old architecture student and professional bodybuilding athlete—a young man who spent much of his life devoted to sports, nature, and his love for animals, working hard to achieve his dreams.
For Erfan, sport was not merely a way to build a strong body; it was a field in which to test his willpower and struggle against his inner weaknesses. Hard training, perseverance, and participation in bodybuilding competitions eventually earned him medals of honor. But what later became the most important chapter of his short life was a struggle beyond the sporting arena—a struggle that would bind his fate to the 2022 uprising.
In his writings and posts, Erfan spoke of hope, perseverance, and the future. One of the sentences he left behind offers a clear glimpse into the way he viewed life:
“Life is like a school notebook. Two of its pages have already been filled by God. The first page is birth, the last page is death, and the pages in between are blank. So fill those pages with smiles and love.”
He believed that success does not happen overnight; it is the result of small, consistent efforts repeated day after day. In another of his writings, he said:
“Success is a collection of small efforts repeated every single day.”
And perhaps more than any other sentence, these words remained in the minds of his friends and loved ones:
“Fight for your dreams!”
But fate did not give Erfan the chance to fill all the blank pages of his life.

September 29: The Day Erfan’s Life Was Cut Short

During the nationwide uprising of 2022, as young people protested in cities across Iran, Erfan was among those who sought freedom and change.
On September 29, his 26-year-old life came to an end in Lavasan when he was shot eight times at close range. He was a young man who had spent his life working to build his future, yet he was killed before he had the opportunity to experience many of his dreams and important milestones.
His death was not merely the end of the life of a young athlete and student. For his family and friends, it was the sudden loss of a young man who was still full of hope and enthusiasm for life.
Erfan’s body was buried in Lavasan under intense security restrictions surrounding the funeral. Yet even amid that heavy atmosphere, his name and memory could not be silenced. Architecture students at Islamic Azad University, South Tehran Branch, where Erfan studied, wrote messages on walls in his memory and kept his name alive.

The Medals That Returned Without Their Champion

The fortieth day after Erfan’s death was a bitter and unforgettable day for his family. His grieving mother brought her son’s sports medals to his grave and placed them beside his resting place.
Those medals were no longer merely symbols of Erfan’s sporting achievements; for his family, they recalled the years he had spent struggling and persevering to become a champion. The medals that had once represented his victories on the sporting field now lay on the grave of a young man whose life had been cut short in the middle of its journey.
For those close to him, the image carried a profound meaning: Erfan had been a champion who ultimately transformed the arena of his life into another arena of resistance.

The Young Man Who Loved Nature and Animals

Erfan was more than an athlete and an architecture student. He loved animals and supported their welfare. Spending time in nature and the outdoors was also an important part of his life. Between his training sessions, studies, and university life, he made time to experience nature and its beauty.
Through the writings and images he left behind, one can glimpse a young man who loved life; a young man who still had plans for the future, still had dreams, and still believed that the best things in life might be waiting ahead.
In one of his Instagram posts, he wrote:
“Difficult and winding paths lead to the best destinations. The best thing in your life has not happened yet. Wait for it.”
Today, those words are more poignant and thought-provoking than ever, because Erfan himself was cut short in the middle of one of those difficult, winding paths and never had the chance to reach the “best thing” he was waiting for.

From the Sporting Arena to the Struggle for Freedom

To his family and friends, Erfan Nazarbegi was, above all, a 26-year-old young man with countless hopes: an architecture student, an athlete striving for championship, a young man who loved animals and enjoyed nature.
But during the days of the 2022 uprising, his fate entered another chapter.
In the accounts that remain of his life, we see a young man who believed that people should struggle for their dreams. The phrase “Fight for your dreams,” which he had repeated many times, acquired a new meaning for those who knew him after his death.
He was no longer fighting only for his personal dreams; in the eyes of his family and those close to him, the dream of freedom had also become one of the greatest aspirations of his generation.
Like many young people of his generation, Erfan never had the chance to experience life to its fullest or in the way he had wanted. His life was abruptly cut short, but his writings, photographs, medals, and memories remained—traces of a young man who wanted to build a better future.

The Champion Who Lives on in Memory

For his family, Erfan Nazarbegi’s death was the loss of a son; for his friends, the loss of a friend; and for his university classmates, the loss of a young man who could have shared many more years of life with them.
The medals his mother placed on his grave perhaps tell the story of Erfan’s life more powerfully than any words could: the story of a young man who struggled to become a champion and whose name ultimately remained not only among athletes, but in the memories of those who loved him, as a young man who lost his life during the 2022 uprising.
He is gone, but his words remain:
“Fight for your dreams.”
And also:
“Difficult and winding paths lead to the best destinations. The best thing in your life has not happened yet. Wait for it.”
Perhaps Erfan’s life itself was a story of that difficult and winding path—a path that never reached the destination he was waiting for, but one that left his name and memory in the hearts of those who loved him.
Erfan Nazarbegi lived for 26 years—a short life, yet one filled with effort, sport, dreams, and hope. The book of his life was closed too soon, but the pages he left behind are still being read.
He no longer has the opportunity to fill the blank pages of his life, but those who remember him can still find his presence in the simple sentence that perhaps best captures the essence of his life:
Fight for your dreams.