Iranian judo champion Arash Miresmaeili has refused to compete against Israeli athlete Ehud Vaks. The Olympics officially prohibits race, religion, ethnicity, or skin color from interfering with sports - so what are they going to do abut this?

MyWay News reports:

The burning issue was whether any penalty would hit Miresmaeili alone or the entire Iranian team, as the intrusion of the Middle East's bitter politics threatened to fly in the face of the Olympic ideal. "There has been no decision and we are considering this situation very carefully," said IJF spokesman Michel Brousse. "This has not been brought to us as an issue and until it is, we would not have any comment," said a spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which pledges to uphold the ideal of sport transcending national barriers.

"Although I have trained for months and am in shape I refused to face my Israeli rival in sympathy with the oppressed Palestinian people," said Miresmaeili, 66 kg world champion in 2001 and 2003. "I am not upset about the decision I have made."

Unless Miresmaeili is kicked off the team (which hardly seems likely), the entire Iranian delegation should be disqualified from further competition and sent home. If they have won any medals, those medals should be taken away. This sort of thing simply can’t be tolerated — if the IOC tolerates it now, they won’t have a leg to stand on with further problems. If they tolerate this but wouldn’t tolerate similar refusals (to compete against blacks, Muslims, etc.), then they are guilty of specific prejudice against Israel.

I assume that Miresmaeili would compete against Jewish athlete from another country, which would mean that neither he nor Iran is guilty of broader antisemitism. However, it’s ridiculous to go to the international Olympics without being willing to compete against citizens of any of the nations which attend. It doesn’t matter what complaints one has against a specific nation (and there are legitimate criticisms one can make against Israel, as there are against other nations like Iran or the United States), you shouldn’t go if you plan on refusing to compete like this.

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