Olympics Hit by Crisis Over Iran-Israel Contest

[conjur]

http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/145144|top|08-15-2004::11:26|reuters.html

ATHENS (Reuters) - Iran's world judo champion Arash Miresmaeili refused to compete against an Israeli Sunday, triggering a fresh crisis at the Olympic Games where race, creed or color are barred from interfering in sport.

The International Judo Federation (IJF) failed to agree how to deal with the politically explosive issue at an emergency meeting and said it would hold further talks Monday.

The burning issue was whether any penalty would hit Miresmaeili alone or the entire Iranian team, as the intrusion of the Middle East's bitter politics threatened to fly in the face of the Olympic ideal.

"There has been no decision and we are considering this situation very carefully," said IJF spokesman Michel Brousse.

"This has not been brought to us as an issue and until it is, we would not have any comment," said a spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which pledges to uphold the ideal of sport transcending national barriers.

The official reason at the Games for Miresmaeili's non-appearance was failure to make the weight but judo chiefs questioned how a seasoned athlete, who carried Iran's flag at Friday's opening ceremony, would have made such a basic error.

REAL REASON

But in Tehran, the Iranian National Olympic Committee said in a statement: "This is a general policy of our country to refrain from competing against athletes of the Zionist regime and Arash Miresmaeili has observed this policy."

Iran has refused to recognize Israel's right to exist since Islamic fundamentalists toppled the Shah in 1979.

Miresmaeili, who had been due to fight Israeli Ehud Vaks, was quoted by Iran's official news agency IRNA as saying he acted in solidarity with the Palestinians.

"Although I have trained for months and am in shape I refused to face my Israeli rival in sympathy with the oppressed Palestinian people," said Miresmaeili, 66 kg world champion in 2001 and 2003. "I am not upset about the decision I have made."

I hate seeing politics/bigotry enter the realm of sports.

 

[Gaard]

"There has been no decision and we are considering this situation very carefully," said IJF spokesman Michel Brousse.

What's to consider? The guy loses by forfeit and you move on.

 

[kage69]

Way to go Iran.

 

[charrison]

send the entire iranian team home.

 

[Klixxer]

I don't think it is any worse than the cheaters (the 'roid users, the EPO users and so on), just ban them from participating in ANY international competitions ever again.

 

[daveshel]

Originally posted by: conjur
http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/145144|top|08-15-2004::11:26|reuters.html

ATHENS (Reuters) - Iran's world judo champion Arash Miresmaeili refused to compete against an Israeli Sunday, triggering a fresh crisis at the Olympic Games where race, creed or color are barred from interfering in sport.

The International Judo Federation (IJF) failed to agree how to deal with the politically explosive issue at an emergency meeting and said it would hold further talks Monday.

The burning issue was whether any penalty would hit Miresmaeili alone or the entire Iranian team, as the intrusion of the Middle East's bitter politics threatened to fly in the face of the Olympic ideal.

"There has been no decision and we are considering this situation very carefully," said IJF spokesman Michel Brousse.

"This has not been brought to us as an issue and until it is, we would not have any comment," said a spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which pledges to uphold the ideal of sport transcending national barriers.

The official reason at the Games for Miresmaeili's non-appearance was failure to make the weight but judo chiefs questioned how a seasoned athlete, who carried Iran's flag at Friday's opening ceremony, would have made such a basic error.

REAL REASON

But in Tehran, the Iranian National Olympic Committee said in a statement: "This is a general policy of our country to refrain from competing against athletes of the Zionist regime and Arash Miresmaeili has observed this policy."

Iran has refused to recognize Israel's right to exist since Islamic fundamentalists toppled the Shah in 1979.

Miresmaeili, who had been due to fight Israeli Ehud Vaks, was quoted by Iran's official news agency IRNA as saying he acted in solidarity with the Palestinians.

"Although I have trained for months and am in shape I refused to face my Israeli rival in sympathy with the oppressed Palestinian people," said Miresmaeili, 66 kg world champion in 2001 and 2003. "I am not upset about the decision I have made."

I hate seeing politics/bigotry enter the realm of sports.

Unfortunate, yes. Unprecedented, no. Unexpected, no. I guess if they wany to make up their own rules, they can just stay in their own sandbox.

 

[Aimster]

This guy was too fat to qualify so he didnt want to go home looking like a loser so instead he makes it into a political issue so he can go home a hero. What an idiot.

 

[chowderhead]

The issue apparently gets cloudy when it is learned
Iranian Judo guy failed to make weight
Is the guy blaming his inability to make weight on political reasons in order to "save" face?


Kind of like the Greek sprinters who declined to take drug tests and gets into a motocycle accident. controversy = ratings.

Edit : what Aimster said.

 

[Drift3r]

OT - But anyone else notice how empty the arenas are for the games ???

 

[imported_tss4]

Originally posted by: Drift3r
OT - But anyone else notice how empty the arenas are for the games ???

Supposedly, its a major holiday in Greece tomorrow. Plus, depending on what you were watching they said on TV that gymanstics isn't as popular in greece.

 

[f95toli]

Only about 50% of the tickets have been sold.
But, it also depends on what you watch.

 

[conjur]

2.9 million of 5 million tickets have been sold.

9.5 million tickets were sold in Sydney.

 

[arsbanned]

Essentially, I could not care less about the olympics this year nor about any Fat Iranian bigots. Unless -of course- he is running against Bush.

 

[booger711]

send that fvcker home. he forfeits.

 

[Shad0hawK]

Originally posted by: Gaard

"There has been no decision and we are considering this situation very carefully," said IJF spokesman Michel Brousse.

What's to consider? The guy loses by forfeit and you move on.

yup. otherwise the longer they hand wring the more out of propportion it gets

 

[kaizersose]

Originally posted by: Aimster
This guy was too fat to qualify so he didnt want to go home looking like a loser so instead he makes it into a political issue so he can go home a hero. What an idiot.

this guy was the gold medal favorite and world champion. he has probably spent his entire adult life training and keeping himself at peak physical conidtion only to lose that focus at the olympics? the chances of him being overweight accidentally are very slim.

 

[Rogue]

You'd think he'd want to get in there and destroy his competition to show some degree of superiority, but he's just a racist, ignorant fool instead.

 

[kage69]

The Olympic Commitee should take this opportunity to re-affirm it's stance on this kind of infantile behavior and make an example of Iran. Send ALL of their athletes home. The Olympics are already being soured over countless doping scandals, it doesn't need this crap to help tarnish it's image.

 

[Zephyr106]

This kind of reminds me of when the US and USSR were in a hissy fit and refused to attend each other's hosted games. We should have banned both of those jackass countries from ever participating again.

Zephyr

 

[chess9]

WWAD?

Anyway, if he didn't make weight, then it doesn't matter if he were to wrestle Red, though that would have had him running away at world record pace!

-Robert

 

[geecee]

What? An Iranian turns down the chance to lay a beating on an Israeli? Perhaps there's hope for the world after all. :disgust:

[rant]
Just once every couple of years, you'd hope that the world could get together for a couple weeks and put aside its petty political, racial, and religious differences in the spirit of athletic competition. But I guess that's too much to ask.
[/rant]

Anyway, regardless of what you think of our involvement in Iraq, that Iraqi soccer team is some story, huh?