Olympic Iran

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Here‘s a brave and principled stand by the International Judo Federation (via lgf):

Iran has escaped censure over the failure of its judo world champion to fight an Israeli at the Olympics.

The International Judo Federation accepted the disqualification of Arash Miresmaeili came because a medical condition left him too heavy to fight. […]

A spokesman for the Iran National Olympic Committee had said it was a “general policy” of the country to refrain from competing against Israeli athletes and that Miresmaeili had simply observed the protocol.

Iran’s President Mohammad Khatami said Miresmaeili’s act would be recorded among the nation’s glories.

However, the Iranian Olympic team had subsequently explained to the IJF that the fighter had suffered from digestive problems on arrival in Athens and had been unable to lose weight in time.

Comments

  1. Mike Hill Avatar

    Hmm. We need a gastroenterologist to weigh in on the kind of digestive problems that prevent you from losing weight. In my experience they seem to haev to opposite effect.

  2. DaninVan Avatar
    DaninVan

    A severe case of gutlessness? That’s probably unkind of me; no doubt there would have been repercussions at home if he’d competed and LOST.

  3. Ohad Avatar
    Ohad

    This incident isn’t a big deal in the scheme of things, but it reinforces a tendency among Israelis to distrust international organizations.

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