Pashayan was a 1981 Summer Universiade Champion, a two-time European Champion, having won consecutive gold medals at the 1981 and 1982 FILA Wrestling European Championships, and a two-time and reigning World Champion, having also won consecutive gold medals at the 1982 and 1983 FILA Wrestling World Championships, making him the gold medal favorite of the Greco-Roman flyweight (52 kg) division at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
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He won a gold medal over 100 metres at the 1981 Summer Universiade, and over 200 metres at the 1981 IAAF World Cup.
A year before she captured a record-five gold medals at the 1987 Summer Universiade in Zagreb, just like America's Jill Sterkel did in 1981.