Instead of letting areas like sport create a bridge to peace, an Algerian judo contestant at the Paris 2024 Olympics says he would rather withdraw from the Olympics rather than compete against an Israeli.

Messaoud Dris says he will withdraw from his first match, as he was selected to compete against Israeli judoka Tohar Butbul  at the 2024 Paris Olympics in Paris, according to the French news outlet Ouest France reports.

While neighboring Morocco has a peace agreement with Israel, the Algerian athlete says he will forfeit the match as his country does not recognize the State of Israel.

Doing so he could be banned from future competitions by the International Olympic Committee and the World Judo Federation, says Ouest France.

Butbu is ranked ninth in the world in the Under 73kg division and part of the Israeli team that won bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Dris has not won a world championship but in 2024 was the number 1 for the African Senior Championships Individuals and in 2023 won first place in the Arab Games. It may be that this is the end of his career anyway and without a chance of winning. This political forfeit could boost his career in the Muslim country that praises and honors people who make political statements against the Jewish country.

Three years ago the Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine refused to face an Israeli opponent (there was no war at the time) and was suspended. We are noticing a pattern with Algeria.

In October 2017, when an Israeli Tal Flicker won gold in an international judo championship in the UAE officials refused to fly the Israeli flag and play the Israeli national anthete. The UAE also banned Israeli athletes from wearing their country’s symbols on uniforms. The list goes on – see Wikipedia which offers a special page on this issue. Do you think it’s the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do? Should areas of life like Sport and Art rise above conflict and personal politics?

Related: Palestinians swing dance with Israelis for peace

In Iran, you can get into political hot water – and into jail or worse – for other reasons. Remember when the Iranian speedskater was threatened with violence when she didn’t wear her head covering in competitions?  Iran’s sports ministry issued a short statement emphasizing that athletes require “maintaining Islamic values in sports competitions” and added that Mardani, pictured below, had not competed in clothing approved by the state.

Are values in sport a universal idea? Are different countries with different religious values permitted to inject their values on a competition that started in Greece 3000 years ago and called the Olympiad? Consider that British rider Charlotte Dujardin was banned from the Olympics, and her career over, after video of her whipping horse “like an elephant in the circus”. Where does the ethics and morality committee stand on countries who send participants that refuse to player others or who inflict Draconian ethics on women? Should there be a collective country ban on Iran, Algeria and England for a certain period of time or should it just be individuals who get disqualified?

Does an individual reflect the country or the country reflect the individual?

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When he was just three years old, Nour’s parents moved to Lausanne, Switzerland. After some time, they picked up again, this time to live in Washington D.C.

Nour completed high school and attended John Hopkins University before starting Tot Solutions – a telecommunications business – with his brother Diaa.

The two started working long hours and lost track of their diet. Eventually Nour put on 70 pounds, according to Colorado Daily. One day when he was getting in his car, his pants split. That is when he decided he needed to get healthy again.

So, he did what any person would do (not): he started training to compete in triathlons.

At the end of his first, the Nation’s Triathlon in Washington D.C., he befriended the mayor and started training with him and other businessmen. His brother was not surprised.

“I think the reason he gets out of bed everyday is to talk to people,” Diaa told the paper. “He’s the biggest extrovert I know. ‘Who can I talk to today?’ He just loves to meet people, share with people, be with people.”

Eventually Diaa sat down with his brother to discuss the business.

He gave him the choice either to continue to train as a hobby and devote himself more fully to the business, or to quit the company and go pro.

Omar chose the latter, and eventually moved to Colorado in order to train with Neal Henderson.

Although he is considered the clown in the training group, the guy who is always smiling and supporting others, Omar Nour has surmounted some incredible odds to get as far as he has.

While most endurance athletes start at a very young age, he was already 29 when he started, but that hasn’t discouraged him one bit.

Omar didn’t manage to make it to London, but he is on a mission to make it to Rio. And if he does, his brother said, that would be great for Egypt.

Follow Omar Nour on Facebook and show your support.

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You know the story: two teens arrived in London as the first women athletes to ever represent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), where conservative clerics forbid women’s participation in sports. KSA wasn’t alone in coming late to the party: Brunei and Qatar also sent female athletes for the first time this year. But the post-Olympiad tongue-lashing these women are now suffering sets Saudi culture apart once again.

Saudi delayed until mid-July the announcement that their Olympic team would include women, a decision following months of negotiations between their government and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Without women in their ranks, the KSA Olympic team would’ve likely been disqualified.

Saudi women lack the framework to develop into world-class athletes: they’re forbidden from entering all-male national trials, making it impossible for them to qualify for international competitions. So these competitors never actually qualified for their events, but, instead, were given special invitations by the IOC.

Their performances were unimpressive. Shaherkani was defeated in her first judo match after only 82 seconds and Attar finished last in her 800-meter dash. The results were not surprising; but how brave for these underpups to compete. What was surprising were horrendous comments uploaded on social media.

Shaherkani received a standing ovation from the crowd as she left the arena alongside her father, but the online reaction was far less supportive.

Ultra-conservatives opposing the women’s participation vented on blogs and social media, questioning the teens’ morality using extremely offensive terms.

Saudi sports analyst, Fahd al-Rouqi, made an outrageous television announcement that he hoped to die before ever seeing a Saudi woman in the Olympics. (I can find no reports as to his post-Games demise).

A flurry of Twittering ensued. Gulf News repeated one comment that described Shaherkani as “sea remnants” (tarsh bahar), a racist term that describes immigrants to Mecca from outside KSA. Others accused American-born Wojdan of impersonating a Muslim, positing that she might not even be a Saudi.

A Saudi Twitterer allegedly called Sultan Al Hilali spread the hashtag #عاهرات_الاولمبياد  which translates to “the Prostitutes of the Olympics”, referring to the women’s Olympic participation. This prompted angry responses, but, stunningly, also vocal support.

Another Twitter hashtag translates into “Nawaf offers up Saudi women to the Olympics”, referring to Prince Nawaf bin Faisal, head of the General Presidency of Youth Welfare. It attracted tweets condemning the Prince for “folding to the West”, a view repeated by clerics. An editorial on the backlash appearing in The Guardian prompted another stream of public outrage.

Yet what some view as unacceptable violations of human rights, others see as respectful protection. “Saudis are right to keep their culture”, said one commenter. “The Guardian will not be satisfied until every country in the world enforcers their narrow urban cosmopolitan Western views on everyone”, said another.

“There are plenty of women in Saudi who look at Western feminism and thank their lucky stars that they are not used and abused in the way Western women are. I find the idea of Western women calling themselves sluts in public to be demeaning”, one reader wrote.

Another stated, “We all know these female athletes in the Olympics are sexualized in the reporting and presentation. Just look at beach volleyball. The Saudis should refuse to send women to the games until the Olympic committee decides to treat women with the respect they deserve”.

Several Saudi-themed blogs refer to books and fatwas against women in sports, often quoting one particular author (Al Shathri) who argues that physical education will require girls to undress in front of each other “opening the evil door of lesbianism, admiration and their hearts getting attached to each other.” 

I went to an all-girls high school: I’ll testify that my heart never entangled with my classmates’ tickers, despite many a post-field-hockey-shower. (Disclaimer: this writer finds no problem with said heart attachments).

Shaherkani’s father has said he will legally challenge his daughters’ disparagers whose hateful comments could be labeled libelous; she may be entitled to claim for serious damages and demand a public apology as well.  Attar has not commented.

Activist Manal al-Sharif, who led a campaign to allow Saudi women to drive, described Wojdan’s participation in the London Olympics as historic. “For us Saudi women judoka Wojdan is a champion,” she said on Twitter.

United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan tweeted: “Thank you, Wojdan Shaherkani.”

Neither Wojdan nor Sarah have been officially recognized by the Saudi government as Olympic competitors: few Saudis have spoken in their support.

Western media celebrated the news as a revolution in women’s rights, but I think that interpretation’s overblown. Social activists and human rights organizations inside KSA grapple with child marriage, judicial discrimination against women, opening educational and employment opportunities, and lifting the ban on women driving. Women in sports are understandably not top priority.

Does the IOC have a responsibility to leverage the Olympics in challenge of human rights restrictions?  They expelled South Africa from the Games in 1970 for its racist policies: that ban remained effective for 21 years until apartheid finally ended.  Seems an appropriate precedent to flexing their political muscles here in the Middle East.

tristan tan / Shutterstock.com

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Going into the London Olympic games, Green Prophet covered issues affecting Arab athletes who planned to compete in the 26th modern Olympiad since the games were revived in Athens in 1896. These are also religious ones, such as whether Muslim athletes could be exempted from fasting on Ramadan, as well as the perennial one over proper clothing for female Muslim athletes, especially the wearing of the hijab headscarf while competing in Olympic sporting events.

In addition to issues affecting Muslim athletes, there were also ones involving Jewish athletes being able to compete on the first two days of the 17 day competition, due to those days being the  Sabbath and the fast day of the Ninth of Av. which occurred on Sunday, July 29,  commemorates some of the darkest moments in Jewish history.

But these types of issues have always been around and have affected athletes in other types of sporting competitions as well.  With the International Olympic Committee making great strides to emphasize the meaning of the games within the framework of global community and pure athletic competition, we might take some time to dwell on the games themselves within the framework of whether gigantic sporting events like the Olympiad are contributing anything towards helping make the world environment a better for humanity.

This particular Olympiad is taking place during some of the most serious world problems involving  global warming and climate change. Some of these problems involve massive flooding in China, dangerously severe drought conditions in much of the USA as well in as in the Middle East, and unusually rapid melting of Arctic glaciers and ice fields in places like Greenland.

This year, the City of London, sponsor of the XXVI Olympiad, has made great efforts to make the city and especially the Olympic Village more environmentally friendly or green.

These efforts include creating special parks and green belts that will stay in place long after the games are concluded; special traffic lanes to bring visitors to and from the locations of the sporting events, trying to reduce the mega-city’s carbon footprint by reducing exhaust emissions; and by making efforts to educate both residents and visitors on the advantages of waste recycling in order to significantly reduce the amount of non-organic wastes being sent to landfills.

Even in normal periods, London is one of the largest cities in the world with more than 8.27 million inhabitants and between 12 and 14 million people in the entire metropolitan area. Just cleaning up after various sporting events, and after both the opening and closing ceremonies are logistical challenges in themselves, employing thousands of both part and full time personnel.

Regarding energy consumption, a number of projects by the London municipality have been on-going to reduce energy consumption by encouraging people to walk or ride bicycles within the Olympic areas, and by use of renewable energy.

A number of Olympic athletes, including a group of 12 American “green” athletes who are themselves environmental activists and have brought their ideas towards helping to save the planet along with them to the competitions.

Calling themselves the “Go Green Team” these young men and women are talking about climate change being a scary thought, especially  for athletes who rely on snow and ice for their winter Olympic sports. They are also advocating eating  more ‘veggies’ and less meat, and to make more overall efforts towards recycling in both the games themselves and back home.

While athletes themselves are generally more green themselves, simply because they are physically fit and eat more healthy diets than people who eat fast foods and are more often known as “couch potatoes”, the green example of the lifestyles of athletes themselves can be an inspiration to all of us long after the games come to an end.

More on Olympics:
Female Arab Athletes with Headscarf Problems, Again?
Middle East Olympians Exempted From Ramadan Fasting
The Wrath of Global Warming and the Middle East
Greenland’s Melting Glaciers Will Affect Your Middle East

Image of green athletes from Shutterstock

The post How Green Are the Olympic Games? appeared first on Green Prophet.

The ruckus over allowing competitive athletes to wear the hijab – a garment representative of cultural modesty – is drawing fever-pitch attention to female Arab athletes.

Green Prophet’s reported on successful efforts to allow a sports-specific hijab for female footballers, but not all sports federations agree.

Last week, Saudi judoka Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shaherkani was banned from wearing the hijab head scarf when she competes at the Olympic Games.

International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer has ordered the 18 year old heavyweight to step onto the mat with her head uncovered. A Saudi official said earlier this month that its female athletes would have to obey Islamic dress codes.

Judo applies strict safety rules and any covering on the head is considered a risk to the fighter’s health.

Fair point: but why can’t judo follow football’s lead?  Develop a head covering bespoke to each sport that also meets Islamic intentionality.

“The Saudi Arabian athlete will take part in judo and she will fight according to the principle and spirit of judo, so without a hijab,” said Vizer.  Talks continue between the Saudi Arabian National Olympic Committee, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the IJF to resolve the issue.

Shaherkani is scheduled to compete in the +78kg category on August 3. But this week the BBC reported that her father says she will pull out of the Olympics if she is not allowed to wear her hijab. There is no news as to progress with committee talks.

She and 800m runner Sarah Attar are Saudi Arabia’s two female Olympians.  If they fail to compete, they’ll at least earn Guinness Records as the first women to be nominated as contenders for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

The Olympics first allowed women competitors in 1900; well over a century later, KSA, Brunei and Qatar are sending female athletes for the first time this year. The Saudis waited until mid-July to announce that they’d send two women athletes to London. Western media are applauding the news as a “breakthrough for women’s rights”, but that interpretation’s overblown. KSA had held out on identifying female contenders, declaring  that women could compete in the Olympics – if they qualified.

If they qualified, and that’s the trick. Saudi women are banned from competitive sports; they are forbidden from entering all-male national trials, which makes it impossible for them to qualify for international competitions such as the Olympics. Saudi state schools offer no gym classes for girls; female gyms were closed in 2009-10; and women are forbidden to enter stadiums or register at health clubs.  Resultantly, their pair of female competitors never actually qualified for their events, but were given special invitations by the IOC.

Their last-minute reversal over female participation can instead be viewed as simply a means of avoiding their male team from being banned by the IOC for being in contravention of the Olympic charter.

This latest hijab brouhaha demonstrates that there is no fundamental shift in KSA policies towards women. It’s deplorable that the weight of  this debate falls on the back of a teenager.

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