Congratulations to Iran, for precipitating the first needless controversy of the Athens Games:
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 not allowed to interfere with sport. . .The official reason for Miresmaeili's non-appearance was failure to make the weight but judo chiefs were questioning how such a seasoned athlete, who carried Iran's flag at Friday's opening ceremony, would have made such a basic error.
A statement by the Iranian National Olympic Committee in Tehran suggested the real reason had nothing to do with kilos.
"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," it said.
Miresmaeili, who was apparently heavily favored to win the competition as a Featherweight, had already told the Iranian news agency that he would boycott any match with an Israeli as a statement of solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The IJF is now discussing whether to sanction Miresmaeili, or Iranian team as a whole. In international sport, athletic authorities fudge this issue (in particular in Soccer), by placing Israel in Europe for purposes of World Cup qualifying.
As for whether or not to sanction the individual judoka, or the entire team, I seem to recall international authorities knew what the answer was when it came to South Africa and Apartheid. I wonder if the answer will be the same here.
I’m biased because I have Iranian relatives and a good college friend from Iran, but I say hold the athlete responsible. I know he does not speak for all in that country.
If more athletes refuse to compete against Israelis, keep kicking those athletes out.
I’m inclined to agree. It appears as though the actions here are the decision of the athlete alone, and not backed by his national team, so I don’t see why the team should suffer for his actions.
Further news suggests backing from national officials. (Actually, so does this on a closer read, but I’m heavily skimming this week.) That’s pretty bad.
I’d suggest some sanction short of expelling the whole country. I’ve never thought cultural isolation did much to foster enlightened exchange (ahem, North Korea).