Spirit of the Olympics?

Editorial

The modern Olympics have never been free of ugly politics. But events at this summer's Athens games suggest politics at a level that is both ironic and lamentable.

Arash Miresmaeili, the Iranian judo world champ who was favored to win a gold medal in his class, forfeited his chance because he drew an Israeli opponent, Ehud Vaks. The Iranian had no doubt he could best the Israeli, he told media, but his sympathies for the Palestinian cause and enmity toward Israel precluded him from fighting.

This development was typical of, if not as disastrous as, the same Iranian attitude that refused help from Israel last December when a cataclysmic earthquake levelled the city of Bam. Given a choice between assistance from the Jewish state, which of necessity has developed the world's foremost skills in response to mass trauma, or letting its people die under rubble, the Iranian regime chose the latter.

Miresmaeili's refusal to fight an Israeli is his own choice. But it reflects the depths to which much of the region and the world still deludes itself into denying the legitimacy and indeed the very existence of the "Zionist entity" in their midst. After 56 years, only two of Israel's Arab or Muslim neighbors even acknowledge the Jewish state's presence in the region. In addition, Miresmaeili's decision goes against the very nature of the Olympic spirit, that of joining people together through sport, with politics cast aside for the two-week event. Such athletes should be banned from competing in international events if they can't put their differences aside.

Meanwhile, as this refusal to acknowledge the reality of Israeli existence is reflected by the judo master, this Olympics conversely recognizes a state that doesn't yet exist. For the third summer Olympiad in a row, the International Olympic Committee has recognized a team from "Palestine."

Admittedly, the Palestinian team consists of just two athletes, neither of whom is expected to win, place or show. But the message from the games so far is this: Palestine, a nation only in the dreams of its people, is granted recognition by the world community of sport, while Israel, a vibrant and very tangible nation for nearly six decades now, is insulted in the international arena, treated like a non-entity by an athlete who wishes it didn't exist.

And the games go on.

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