Iran has banned a weightlifter from sports for life and dissolved a sports committee after the athlete greeted an Israeli counterpart on a podium.
Mostafa Rajaei, a veteran weightlifter, finished second in his category in the 2023 World Master Weightlifting Championships in Poland and stood on a podium with an Iranian flag wrapped around him on Saturday.
On anther step of the podium stood Maksim Svirsky from Israel, who finished third.
The two athletes shook hands and took a picture together, which led to the Iran Weightlifting Federation banning Rajaei from all sports for life due to what it called an “unforgivable” transgression.
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Fencing has a customary handshake.
And an alternative tapping of the swords, which the Russian refused.
and holding of the sword for tapping was one of the pictures circulated, that made the ukraine fencer look aggressive.
Fencing is kind of different, as far as I know you shake hands (or tap swords) before fencing to indicate that you aren’t actually going to try and murder each other. Weightlifting isn’t the same in that regard. Though I’m just speculating on the specific rules around this
With the protective gear they’re wearing, I’m pretty sure that you couldn’t murder your opponent even if you wanted to.
The injury rate in fencing is just marginally higher than the injury rate in synchronized swimming or table tennis.
Did she think some random fencer was responsible for a war? Nationalists are so fucking insufferable
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Only one side threw a tantrum over matters of basic courtesy in the competition over nationalism.
In other words, “whataboutism”
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When did this russian fencer invade any countries or kill anyone
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The official US policy to kill civilians. Between the coup and the proxy war we have more ukrainiajn blood on our hands than anyone. Did she shake a US competitor’s hand?
If you can’t behave civilly with another person you have no business swinging a sword at them. You should protest the event hosting them if you feel so strongly about it. You certainly shouldn’t be participating in the event. If you decide to show up and compete against the other person you’re already past all that, and now you need to behave civilly with them.
The point is, sure, there are people who don’t deserve respect. But respect is a necessary prerequisite for this kind of competition. If you can’t respect your opponent you shouldn’t be competing against them. You can’t disrespect them and also compete against them, you pick one or the other.