(Wall Street Journal)Franklin Foer - Rather than compete against an Israeli, Iranian judo champion Arash Miresmaeili quit the Olympics entirely. As the jukoda told the Iranian government's official news service: "I refuse to fight my Israeli opponent to sympathize with the suffering of the people of Palestine." Under Olympic protocol, such ad hoc political boycotts are forbidden. This is a typical tale. Israel continually suffers sporting boycotts, and officials, Olympic and otherwise, continually turn a blind eye toward this injection of politics into sport. If international sports officials wanted to, they could easily stamp out the anti-Israel boycott.
2004-08-23 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive