Lebanese team refuses to train in view of Israelis
July 31, 2012 by J-Wire
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Reuters has reported that prior to the opening ceremony at which International Olympic Committee refused a minute’s silence to honor the memory of the 11 Israeli athletes massacred in Munich in 1972 because it did not want to introduce politics into the event, the IOC ceded to a Lebanese complaint about training in the same space as the Israelis.
A barrier was placed in the gymnasium in which the Israeli and Judo teams were training.
So much for politics. So much for the Olympic spirit.
The incident has been ignored by most mainstream media but published by The Telegraph and The Guardian in the U.K. and in The Times of Israel.
J-Wire has asked the IOC for a comment
It would be nice to know if any barriers were placed between any of the other teams.
Has the IOC issued any statement? I haven’t seen one.
Lebanon’s Caren Chammas and Israel’s Alice Schlesinger will both compete in the women’s -63kg category next Tuesday. Should make for interesting viewing.
Will Caren request to be separated from Alice’s gaze a she warms up? imagine if they finished first and second (which they won’t). The winners podium would look great with barriers hastily erested between the medallists and Caren looking anywhere but in Alice’s direction.
The photos taken by the assembled world media would be sensational.
Actually it’s nothing to do with politics, it’s all to do with spying on the training technics. Same thing happened years ago between Italy and Poland.
Why is anyone surprised by the IOC’s hypocrisy? No difference to the Peer ban in Dubai,(until Venus Williams’ support),or other spoting boycotts.
We have to learn to live with the status quo.It does not mean that we have to like it,or accept that nothing can be done.