I wholeheartedly agree,  why do people do this sort of thing?

  these things usually are ego and self-promotion.   mullahs, really?

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

I hope the Israeli guy wins it.

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

I think what he did was pure nonsense.

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.

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

too fat to fight !

He was only 2 kilograms too heavy. That's not per accident.

  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

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...

What an Ironic twist of truth.

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.

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?

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.

I'd rather have Olympic used as a political window, than the way they are now: used as a great showoff for gazillions of great corporations, who are promoting their goods to the widest possible audience.  Of course, the best would be to keep both politics and consuming passions out of this...

Truely, the ancient Greeks despised commercialization and would completely loathe the disgusting current trend.

Agree with that. In Athens, you aren't even allowed to bring food (!!) or water (!!!!!) to the stadiums since the sponsors demand that the audience must buy their own overpriced wares. Hearing that on the news really pissed me of.

Yeah, isn't that an utter absurdity? And there is more: if you are wearing clothes with a visible sign of their manufacturers and the latter are competitors of one Olympic Sponsor, they can prohibit your entrance into the stadium!   Or maybe strip you and let you pass without clothes

Outrageous, really!

Not quite, you can bring food to the place where the sport will take place but you have to consume it before you enter the stadium.

In the stadium you can buy snacks. Cola costs 1,2 Euro, sandwiches 3 Euro and small bottled water 0,50 Euro. (Been there ;-)

When it comes to the signs on clothes, yesterday I entered wearing a T-shirt with Nike written over it (not very big though) and no-one said anything. I guess much of this is just talk...

Yeah, that's what I said... Outrageous.

Nike is a large Olympic sponsor... And it's not just talk, they interviewed a British woman who was refused entry because she had a company name on her top.

Wow. How stupid can you get. "You refused to compete for your nation, so heres $125,000 as a reward for your bravery".....give me a break. What a disgrace to athleticism. Such a contribution to anti-racism and fair-play cant go unrewarded i guess.

And how do they know he would have won the gold...according to reports he was overweight and wouldnt be able to compete in the first place. "Heres $125,000 for not training properly and not being able to compete in your weight class." Idiots.

Hey, if its that easy ill just enter the olympics, i wont train properly, and refuse to fight all my opponents because i dont believe in any other state besides Armenia. Give me the $125,000, ill do more good with it than that blundering retard. Draw the line somewhere, people.

Jalisco Lancer brings up a good point--has anyone here considered that this guy might have been forced by the Iranian government to not engage in the match against the Israeli?

Hey all,

    Olympics is about politics as much as NFL is about business.

Peace,

Michael

9-29-2004

I agree. I cannot stand people who talk about "nobility of athleticism". In sports, you crush your opponent, fairly if possible, fouly if you can, especially in olympics.

This is not racism Armenian. It is a political stance. No one can deny that Israeli athlete represents Isarel as a political entity. I agree with non-recognition of Israeli Apartheid State in politics but bringing that this far is not much to my taste.

Evildoer, i agree with you in the non-recognition of the Israeli state in politics, my point was, as you stated "but bringing that this far is not much to my taste". I fully agree with you.

And i still dont get how refusing to fight him proves anything, if you dont like his country so much why not beat him to a pulp and dedicate the victory to whatever political belief you hold? You're only giving him a better chance to win a medal .

But i mean, hes got all of us talking about it, so i guess he was successful in getting his point across, no?  But personally, i would rather be remembered as being the noble fighter who trounced his opposition and dedicated his victory to whatever belief he held, rather than be remembered as the guy that didnt suit up to fight. But thats just an opinion, afterall.