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Athens 2004: Iranian world judo champion refuses to face Israeli
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Gorkhali View Drop Down
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Posts: 28 		  Quote Gorkhali Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Athens 2004: Iranian world judo champion refuses to face Israeli
    Posted: 15-Aug-2004 at 13:59

14-08-2004, 06:36
Iranian world judo champion Arash Miresmaili, who carried his country's flag in Friday's olympic games opening ceremony, has pulled out of the tournament because he refused to fight an Israeli.

The 23-year-old, twice a winner of the flyweight (under 66kg) world title, opted not to take on first round opponent Ehud Vaks of Israel as an express of support for Palestine.

"Although I have trained for months and was in good shape I refused to fight my Israeli opponent to sympathize with the suffering of the people of Palestine and I do not feel upset at all," Miresmaili told IRNA.

Students news agency ISNA quoted Iran's sports officials as saying Miresmaili still deserved the one billion Rial ($115,000) prize the Iranian olympic medal winners were promised by the Physical Education Organization.

"Miresmaili must receive a special prize as he was the prime candidate for a gold medal and I will do my best about it," said head of the Judo Federation, Mohammad Derakhshan.

http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=282983&lang= e&dir=news

 

 
Ayo Gorkhali!
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Posts: 1803 		  Quote cattus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2004 at 14:42
He should just do what he trained to do and should get anything unless he fights. Leave the damn politics at home i say.
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Posts: 485 		  Quote Serge L Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2004 at 14:42
I read about this fact yet, and seriously I am not sure what to think about it. Was the athlet lobbied by his government, or was this a result of his own politicalk ideas?
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2004 at 14:45

He should just do what he trained to do and should get anything unless he fights. Leave the damn politics at home i say.

I wholeheartedly agree,  why do people do this sort of thing?
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Posts: 1803 		  Quote cattus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2004 at 17:10

  these things usually are ego and self-promotion.   mullahs, really?
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Posts: 196 		  Quote John Doe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2004 at 21:31

The olympics are about separating sport from politics... damn fool...

I hope the Israeli guy wins it.



Edited by John Doe
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-Aug-2004 at 00:34

Well, the Iranian guy could've turned his dislike of Israel into a thrashing victory.

I think what he did was pure nonsense.
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Posts: 366 		  Quote Degredado Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-Aug-2004 at 02:45
He was probably afraid to lose to an Israeli. The chicken!
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Posts: 269 		  Quote fastspawn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-Aug-2004 at 03:25
Originally posted by Degredado

He was probably afraid to lose to an Israeli. The chicken!


i suppose you are joking, but in case you weren't, he was odds-on favourite to win the gold medal.
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Posts: 2810 		  Quote Styrbiorn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-Aug-2004 at 03:27
Chicken!
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Posts: 2329 		  Quote Yiannis Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-Aug-2004 at 04:25

He said that he didn't want to actually touch a Jew!

Unbeliavable.

Anyway, later that day, an Algerian fought in Judo and won, against an Israeli but I'm not sure if it was the same one.

 

 
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Posts: 196 		  Quote John Doe Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-Aug-2004 at 05:48

Reading the BBC, turns out he might have been out of his weight class instead of it being political reasons...

 

too fat to fight !
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-Aug-2004 at 06:00

He was only 2 kilograms too heavy. That's not per accident.
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Posts: 2112 		  Quote Jalisco Lancer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 16-Aug-2004 at 13:30

 

 

  remember what happened at a previous soccer FIFA coup when the Iranian goverment ordered to the players do not exchange the t shirts with thew US players at the end of the game.

  regards

 
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Posts: 524 		  Quote vagabond Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 17-Aug-2004 at 15:19
He shouldn't get a reward of any kind for this - His behavior is completely against the spirit and meaning of everything that the Olympics stand for.  It's a shame that so often today politics and prejudices are superimposed on the few events like the Olympics that exist to try and rise above the muddle that the world is in and have everyone share in a common celebration.
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Posts: 1988 		  Quote TheDiplomat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Aug-2004 at 05:19

well-said Vagabond!

But The Olmpics have always been used in a political window also.

Started first in 1908,The Finnish competitors refused to competite under the Russin Flag..

Without doubt,the worst events took place in 1972 Olympics of Munchen...

The 1980 Moscow Games were boycotted by 65 countries! in order to protest the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan...

And 4 years later,The East Block boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Games for this time...

1936 Berlin...Hitler left stadium not to shake hands with a Black competitor...
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Posts: 6003 		  Quote Cywr Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Aug-2004 at 05:26
1936 Berlin...Hitler left stadium not to shake hands with a Black competitor...


Edit:
May bad, though i was half right, the tale is a popular myth, but the details a little different.
Read here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Owens

In particular:

A persistent myth has grown up that Hitler had intended to use the games to promote "Aryan superiority", and was in the stadium for some of Owens' events but had refused to acknowledge him after his remarkable performances. In fact, in Owens' Autobiography, The Jesse Owens Story, Owens himself recounted how Hitler had stood up and waved to him:

"When I passed the Chancellor he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him. I think the writers showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in Germany." - Jesse Owens, The Jesse Owens Story, 1970.

In what was to become an act of extreme irony, the American president of the time, Franklin D. Roosevelt, then involved in an election and concerned about the reaction in the USA's southern states, refused to see Owens at the White House: Owens was later to remark that it was Roosevelt, not Hitler, who snubbed him.


What an Ironic twist of truth.



Edited by Cywr
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18-Aug-2004 at 06:21

A few days ago 'Olympia' (the movie made by Leni Riefenstahl about the 1936 Olympics) was shown on television. It's often said that it is a propaganda movie, but IMO it isn't. At least I haven't heared any racist statement. The only thing I noticed was when they summed up the competators: "The German A, The Finn B, The Japanese C, The Black American D". But I think other European countries and the US would have done the same thing.
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Posts: 1460 		  Quote ArmenianSurvival Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Aug-2004 at 04:49

If he was to sympathize with Palestinians, wouldnt it make more sense if he kicked the Israeli guys ass? And if he just didnt want to touch a Jew, thats pretty sad as well as amusing. I dont particularly love em, but does he think they have cooties or something?

And why would you give up a gold medal and the chance to win your country more respect, when all youre doing is giving the Israeli guy a better chance to win the tournament?
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Posts: 2810 		  Quote Styrbiorn Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20-Aug-2004 at 05:00
Originally posted by TheDiplomat

well-said Vagabond!

But The Olmpics have always been used in a political window also.

Started first in 1908,The Finnish competitors refused to competite under the Russin Flag..

That's quite a different thing though. Say if the Americans would conquer Turkey, would you want to compete under the American flag?

The other examples I agree on though, and they are sad.

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