On Friday, that basic spirit was undercut at the Games in Rio when, following a judo match, Islam El Shehaby of Egypt refused to shake hands with Or Sasson, his Israeli opponent.
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El Shehaby was booed by the crowd of spectators when he went against traditional judo etiquette and declined Sasson’s gesture at the end of their match.
El Shelby had been pressured back in Egypt not to compete against an Israeli at all.
This time, the rumours proved to be true, and at the end of Friday’s match, Shehaby refused to shake hands with Sasson, ignoring the latter’s outstretched arm.
“The IOC has set up a disciplinary commission to look into this matter”, an International Olympics Committee representative told TMZ.
Al-Shehaby was allegedly threatened to be eliminated from the International Judo Federation if he refrained from participating in the match. “This is already a big improvement that Arabic countries accept to be opposed to Israel”, he said. He said there was no obligation to shake hands, but to bow is mandatory.
Shehaby did not want to comment on his behaviour afterwards.
“What the player did after the match, and not shaking hands with his rival, is a personal action”, the committee said in a statement.
Similar incidents have happened before between Israeli and Arab judo athletes. Speaking after the medal ceremony, he said to watching Israelis: “I love you all”.
“Egypt will cry [if you play]”, said a TV host on an Islamist-leaning network.
Now people are calling the Egyptian fighter a “pathetic excuse” for an Olympian.
Saudi Arabian judoka Joud Fahmy has also been accused of deliberately forfeiting her first round contest in the under 52kg division in order to avoid Israel’s Gili Cohen in the second round.
El Shehaby isn’t the first in this year’s Olympics to have a dispute with an Israeli opponent. “We have lost in terms of sports and politics”, Nassar said.
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They point to the fact that Israel has blocked the chief of the Palestinian Olympic team from leaving the besieged Gaza strip for the Rio games.
