PrintAugust 10, 2008
Iran's unsporting behavior in Beijing
Despite the One World One dream Olympic theme, the Iranians have not forsaken their dream of one world without Israel.
An Iranian swimmer pulled out of the Olympic Games men's 100m breaststroke heats on Saturday, just minutes before he was due to compete against an Israeli rival.
Prior to this, oh so graciously, oh so erroneously
The Iranian National Olympic Committee (INOC) had said that as there was "no face-to-face situation" in swimming there would be no problem in attending the competition.
"Alirezaei swims in lane one and the representative of the Zionist regime (Israel) in lane seven, so they will not face each other," INOC secretary Ali Kafashian told ISNA news agency prior to the race.According to ISNA, also the country's sports organisation, which is part of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government, had confirmed that there would no be boycott in the race.
And, perhaps because this incident was first reported by a French news agency AFP, the headline oh so subtly commends the Iranians while condemning the Israelis.
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(Ok, ok ,my bias is showing; certainly the professional MSM don't have biases so they don't appear in their straightforward accounts.)
The International Olympics Committee has not censured Iran nor commented on this flagrant abuse of the Olympic dream. Obviously Iran knew they wouldn't.
