[Drew]

http://news.myway.com/top/article/id/145144|top|08-15-2004::11:26|reuters.html

this disgusts me. The olympics are about competion. Its not about politcal or religious differences. Its where a nation comes to show its *best* atheletes.

"This is a general policy of our country to refrain from competing against athletes of the Zionist regime and Arash Miresmaeili has observed this policy."

you see gays, straights, whites, blacks, christians, atheists...everthing. the only thing the iranians should care about is winning. Hes #1, why should be be afraid of playing an Israeli.


its bull****

[vyper]

Aye.... go look at the sponsorship this year too - the whole thing's a farce.

[Thorn]

You'd think it would be the perfect opportunity for them to show up the Israelis, but no.
****ing pansy.

[vyper]

They were probably afraid of a bull-dozer rolling over thier team if they won.

[karajorma]

Exactly. If he has such a problem with Israelis why didn't just go into the ring and fight.

Unless of course he's scared that the other guy might beat him. But no that couldn't happen could it?

F**king coward.

[Gank]

The problem is Iran doesnt recognise Israels right to exist, by letting one of their athelites play against an Israeli on a national level they're acknowlegeing its existance as a state in a roundabout way. Wonder if its actually the athletes own decision or hes been pressured into it.

Btw for all you people calling him a coward, grow the **** up, the mans standing by his beliefs, and is probably getting a lot of slack for it as well as probably losing his title.

[aldo_14]

Pressured, probably.  It's ****ing pathetic anyways - this is sport, not politics.  At least, it should be.

[Gank]

I wouldnt be so sure, Israel had strong contracts with the Shah, and most Iranians havent forgotten that.

[Rictor]

Well, whatever. It his right as an athlete to do what he wants, even if I think its pretty stupid.

The interesting thing is that this year, North and South Korea are competeing as a single team, marching under a single banner AFAIK.

[kode]

Originally posted by Rictor
The interesting thing is that this year, North and South Korea are competeing as a single team, marching under a single banner AFAIK.

starting next olympics they will compete together. this olympics, and IIRC, the last one, they marched in under the same flag, holding hands.

would be nice to one day see palestina and israel do the same thing. but that's too much to hope for, I guess.

[Rictor]

I don't see the parallels. North and South Korea have traditionally been one country, and people on both sides are pro-reunification. The Palestinians and Israelis have never shared a country, unless you're talking about a brief period under British rule. They're completely different people, and what I would instead like to see in the near future is Palestinians marching under the flag of Palestine, an indepedent and sovereign nation.

edit: My mistake, I guess they're still competeing seperately.

[aldo_14]

Albeit the NK government itself doesn't want unification...because of the flood of information that would result.

It's interesting that, apparently, NK had little or no coverage of the world cup 2002.... I wonder how they'll treat the olympics?

[kode]

Originally posted by aldo_14
It's interesting that, apparently, NK had little or no coverage of the world cup 2002.... I wonder how they'll treat the olympics?

the southies broadcasts it to them free via satellite. yay for seeing the opening ceremony and thus boring oneself to death. you people sure don't follow international sports events that closely, do you?

[Rictor]

Actually, the NK government does support unification, and is spreading the message through the regular propaganda channels. The official line is that unification is good, which I found a bit surprising.

[Sandwich]

Refuses to compete, eh? Pfft... political athletes.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Rictor
Actually, the NK government does support unification, and is spreading the message through the regular propaganda channels. The official line is that unification is good, which I found a bit surprising.

Well, officially of course.  It gives the people a 'target' for any dissent - the Americans who have stolen and enslaved South Korea (or something similar).

But it would be the last thing the government would actually want - it would destroy their carefully manufactured false history and leader-cult.  

IIRC, the Chinese who travel to NK are actually a danger interms of their access to the outside world....that's how insular NK is.

[Knight Templar]

Originally posted by vyper
They were probably afraid of a bull-dozer rolling over thier team if they won.

[Gloriano]

Oh dear god.....It's only sport