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The 2016 Summer Olympics

Olympics 2016: 3 times Israel was snubbed in Rio

By Ben Sales

If Olympic athletes are any sign of their countries’ attitudes, things don’t look too good when it comes to relationships between Israel and its neighbors.

The Olympics at their best allow the nations of the world to forget their differences and, for two weeks, come together under the banner of sports and friendly competition.

Of course, it’s never really worked like that.

Jews were benched during the 1936 Olympics in Nazi-era Berlin. 1972 saw the murder of 11 Israeli athletes by Black September, a Palestinian terror group, in Munich. In the decades after World War II, the games served as one more Cold War front between the United States and the Soviet Union. Authoritarian countries have been notorious for doping their athletes to gain an unfair advantage.

So it’s not entirely surprising that Arab-Israeli tensions haven’t miraculously evaporated at the Rio Olympic Village.

Still, at an Olympics where South and North Korean gymnasts can take a selfie together, it’s been jarring to see Arab athletes publicly stonewalling their Israeli rivals. So far, Israel’s been snubbed three times at Rio 2016:

• Lebanon doesn’t let Israel on the bus

The spats started even before the games began. On the way to the Olympics’ Opening Ceremony, the Lebanese delegation refused to share a bus with Israel’s athletes. The Lebanese asked the bus driver to close the door, and then the head of Lebanon’s delegation physically blocked the aisle so the Israelis couldn’t board.

To quell the argument, Olympics staff quickly found another bus for Israel.

“How is it possible that they let something like this happen and on the opening night of the Olympic Games?” Israeli sailing coach Udi Gal wrote on Facebook. “Isn’t this the opposite of what the Olympics represent and work against it? I cannot describe the way I feel. I’m enraged and shocked by this event.”

• Saudi Arabia forfeits a judo match to avoid Israel

The scorn allegedly continued on the Games’ first day. On Sunday, Saudi judoka Joud Fahmy forfeited her first-round match against an athlete from Mauritius – reportedly so she could avoid facing Israeli Gili Cohen in the second round.

Saudi Arabia denied that it was a snub, and said Fahmy had been injured during training.

• Egypt’s judoka leaves his Israeli opponent hanging

On Friday, another Israeli judoka got snubbed, this time by a country considered friendly to Israel. Egyptian judoka Islam El Shehaby competed against Israeli Or Sasson, but after Sasson won, El Shehaby refused to shake Sasson’s hand. He walked away to boos from the crowd as Sasson’s arm was outstretched. Remarkably, according to the International Judo Federation, the fact that the match between Israel and Egypt took place represents “progress,” CBS News reported.

“This is already a big improvement that Arabic countries accept to (fight) Israel,” spokesman Nicolas Messner said in an email to CBS. He added that while bowing is mandatory, shaking hands is not.

 

Anthony Ervin becomes oldest individual swimming gold medalist

(JTA) — Jewish swimmer Anthony Ervin became the oldest Olympic gold medalist in an individual swimming event, at 35 capping a comeback from burnout and drug use in the aftermath of his gold medal at 19.

Ervin edged France’s Florent Manaudou by one one-hundredth of a second in the men’s 50-meter freestyle race Friday night in Rio.

The son of a Jewish mother and a father with black and Native American roots, Ervin won his first Olympic gold medal in the same event in 2000.

“When I touched the wall, I saw a 1. Kind of the absurdity, the surrealness of it all,” Ervin said, according to USA Today. “I smiled and laughed. It just seems so unlikely.” Ervin, of suburban Los Angeles, won a second gold medal earlier in the week in the men’s 4×100-meter relay.

He had quit swimming in 2003 and, as he details in his memoir, Chasing Water: Elegy of an Olympian, published in April, spent his 20s experimenting with drugs, playing guitar and teaching the sport in Brooklyn, N.Y.

 

Rio pays tribute to 11 Israeli victims of ’72 Munich Olympic massacre

(JTA) — Under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee, Brazilian senior officials joined sports activists from Israel and elsewhere at a commemoration of the 11 Israeli victims of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre.

The Israeli and Brazilian Olympic committees and members of the local Jewish community attended the event Sunday evening at Rio City Hall.

“What happened in 1972 was one of the most lamentable episodes in the history of the Olympic Games, when fanaticism and intolerance [converged in a] deplorable act of terrorism,” Brazil’s foreign minister, Jose Serra, said on behalf of President Michel Temer. “I believe the IOC, in all these years, hadn’t held the homage it deserved.”

Israel’s most senior representative to the games, Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev, said terrorism “does not differentiate [between] people” and reaches everyone.

“When we fight against terror, we look for peace. We still see discrimination against the Israeli athletes,” she said. “There are countries that deny visas to competitors. We know that mixing sports and politics is against the IOC protocol and contrary to the Olympic spirit. Sport must bring people together.”

Unlike previous Olympic commemorations dealing with the 1972 massacre, Sunday’s event was entirely devoted to the murdered Israelis. A previous homage was held August 4 at a memorial site in the Olympic Village, where not only the Israelis were honored but also four others who were killed during Olympic Games.

Ankie Spitzer and Ilana Romano, the widows of fencing coach Andre Spitzer and weightlifter Yossef Romano, were among those who lit 11 candles at the event.

Israel’s honorary consul in Rio, Osias Wurman, told JTA: “The mayor opened the doors of his house in a gesture of great friendship with the Brazilian Jewish community and the whole people of Israel. It’s a unique moment for us Brazilian Jews.”

Among the ceremony’s participants was Ori Sasson, the Israeli judoka who gave Israel its second medal in Rio – bronze in the men’s judo over 220 pounds competition.

On August 9, Yarden Gerbi won Israel’s first medal in Rio, a bronze in the women’s 63-kg judo competition. It was the first Olympic medal for Israel since 2008 in Beijing.

Sasson’s Egyptian opponent during the competition who refused to greet him after being defeated was much criticized and eventually sent home.

Approached by guests and journalists for a comment, Sasson avoided answering questions about conflict in the Middle East. “It was not the first time this happened between a judo athlete competing against Muslims,” he said, “but I am only an athlete, I’m not a politician.”

 

Aly Raisman wins silver medal in Olympic gymnastics all-around

(JTA) — Aly Raisman won the Olympic silver medal in the women’s gymnastics all-around in Rio de Janeiro. The Jewish competitor from Needham, Mass., finished second behind her American teammate Simone Biles on Thursday, August 11. Raisman, 22, is the U.S. squad’s captain and was a key part of its gold medal in the team competition two days earlier. The silver is her fifth Olympic medal overall. In 2012, she took the gold in the team and floor exercise competitions and won a bronze in the balance beam. Raisman and Biles became only the second pair of American women gymnasts to win the top two medals in the all-around competition. Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson won gold and silver, respectively, in 2008.

CAP: Egypt’s El Shehaby (left) refusing to shake Ori Sasson’s hand after the Israeli won their match. Photo: Oren Aharoni

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