Bravo! to Dan Wetzel, of Yahoo! Sports, for taking up the outrageous conduct of the Iranian judo champion who refused to fight an Israeli athlete, hiding behind a contrivance to disuise his utterly indefensible conduct:

And now the International Olympic Committee, backed by the civilized world, should make its statement loud and clear: Toss Iran out of the Athens Games.

Immediately.

Disqualify the entire Iranian delegation, send them home and hold them up to international scrutiny and ridicule. Anything less is to look away, to tacitly approve, to take the conciliatory path, to allow xenophobia, racism and religious persecution to thrive.

Anything less is to allow the Games to become a global stage for radical political statements.

Anything less is to spit in the eye of the Olympic ideal that the spirit of competition can bridge differences and bring people of all backgrounds together.

It is one thing if this were one man acting on his own. If Iran came out and condemned the closed—mindedness of its own athlete the issue would be over before it started.

But Iran, which does not recognize Israel's existence and bans contact with the nation, is complicit.

Hat tip to Ethel Fenig

Posted by Thomas  8 16 04