Middle Eastern politics spilled onto the judo mat Friday at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics when Islam El Shehaby of Egypt refused to shake hands with his winning opponent, Or Sasson of Israel.
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Earlier this week, a Saudi judoka was thought to have withdrawn from a match that would have eventually pit her against an Israeli opponent and a Lebanese Olympic delegate was reprimanded for blocking Israeli athletes from boarding a bus to the Games’ opening ceremony.
Sasson then extended his hand for the shake, a major part of judo etiquette, before El Shahaby shook his head and backed away.
Later, Sasson said his coaches had warned him that El Shehaby might refuse to shake his hand even though the two have never fought before.
Unlike some other Muslim and Arab nations, Egypt has no history of withdrawing from judo bouts against Israelis.
Islam El Shelby of Egypt, who the Associated Press described as an ultraconservative Salafi, had just been defeated by Or Sasson of Israel when the competitors stood across from one another in front of the referee.
Ahead of El Shehaby’s Olympic opener a TV host on an Al-Sharq Islamist-leaning network urged him to pull out.
The Egyptian IOC had told El Shehaby to fight “with a sporting spirit” and ignore the media pressure.
Tweet reads: “Joud Fahmy suffered injuries in her hand and foot during training, and the medical committee recommended she not participate in the judo competition in the Rio Olympics today”.
“For me, it doesn’t matter because I’m a professional fighter”, he said.
The Israeli judoka won a consolation round in the men’s 100 kilogram plus weight class.
As it turned out, Sasson held his own against Riner for much of the fight, only being outmaneuvered in the final few seconds.
In response, a spokesperson for the International Olympic Committee said they “will review the case to figure out exactly what happened”.
“I knew he would do it (snub him), so it wasn’t a surprise for me”, he told the AP.
But, according to the Daily Mail, the International Judo Federation also maintained that the fact the fight even occurred was actually a sign of progress.
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Israel’s Yarden Gerbi points to the Israeli flag after defeating Japan’s Miku Tashiro to win the bronze medal in the women’s -63kg judo contest at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on August 9, 2016.
