Olympic Ideals

“To each of you We have prescribed a Law and an Open Way. If Allah had so willed, He would have made you a single people, but His plan is to test you in what He has given you; so compete in righteousness as in a race. Allah is your final destiny…” (from Sura 5, 48)

In 1998, almost 20 years after the fall of the Shah of Iran and the long American hostage crisis, American athletes met to compete in Iran. Though there is no official diplomatic relation between the two countries, the Iranian Wrestling Federation had invited the American National Wrestling Federation. A former senior official taken hostage, Bruce Laingen, also worked to help ensure this remarkable wrestling match would take place without government interference or misunderstanding. The wrestlers competed fiercely, but within mutually accepted rules. The overflowing crowd of Iranian fans was torn between wanting Iranians to win and wanting to show approval of their guests. So the fans cheered for both. We saw at that moment an alternative model for how the two countries could interact. It was a win-win moment, in a field of honor, free of cynicism and hostility.

The modern Olympics were established in 1896 with much the same vision. Its charter calls for a "pristine atmosphere, untouched and untroubled by politics, anti-Semitism, racism, fascism, ill-will to others, no discrimination of any kind, no rivalries, and where all sportsmen are equal." Similarly, the old League of Nations, the current United Nations, the beleaguered International Criminal Court and other idealistic projects can provide a alternative to the law of the jungle exploitation that prevails in much of the world today.

This is why I find it disappointing that last week, at the start of the Athens’ Olympics, the Iranian Judo Champion Arash Miresmaeli would pull out of competition rather than fight an Israeli, in order to show support of the Palestinian struggle. Adding further insult, at the same time the head of the Iranian Judo Federation insisted that Arash should get its own gold medal and cash prize anyway.

It is true the Olympic ideal is not a reality in the world, not for most of us at least. Yet we cannot and should not lightly dismiss it. If we all protest injustices in this way not one athlete would show up to compete. Not one!

Yes, racism and world politics have intruded before. The 1916 Olympic Games, scheduled to be played in Berlin, were cancelled at the outbreak of World War I. The International Olympic Committee then barred Germany, the accused aggressor in that war, from the Olympics in 1920 and 1924. By the time of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, the Nazis were in power, with at least half the Jews in Germany already forcibly unemployed and their citizenship taken away under the Nuremburg Laws. Nazi officials played down their anti-Semitism during the games, while playing up the Aryan nation business (and they won the most medals). To placate Germany, the USA took two Jewish sprinters off its own team, but the African American Jessie Owens famously won many medals.

Still, Spanish athletes had to be protected, as they were taken to be Jews and treated accordingly. Ironically, in the present games, some Spanish newsmen have apparently been taken for “suspicious” Muslims and beaten by security guards. However, though thousands of military and intelligence forces have been added to keep the Athens games safe, by no stretch of the imagination is Athens like Nazi Berlin).

Beginning with the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, apartheid South Africa was banned because they would not allow black South Africans to join the national team. In 1980, following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter asked the International Olympic Committee to move the next scheduled games from Moscow to Athens. When they did not, he refused to allow the US to compete in the games, and around 60 teams boycotted the Moscow Games, including West Germany, and Japan. Consequently, the USSR and East Germany dominated the Olympics, winning 197 medals.

Then in retaliation, in May 1984, the Soviet Union declared they would not attend the next Olympics, in Los Angeles. Moreover, in 1983, in the twilight days of the Cold War, the Soviets had shot down an American jet that strayed into their airspace. As a result of the attack, the California state legislature passed a resolution condemning the USSR and recommending that the Soviet athletes be banned from Los Angeles. In any event, the Soviet Union and thirteen of their communist allies did not show up. Yet, despite these boycotts, a record of 140 Nations did compete, including China, who returned to the Olympic games after a thirty-two year absence.

This is history, yet those who refuse to learn from history are condemned to repeat it. We should see why some will see the recent politicization of the games as anti-Semitic—sportsmen and media still have memories of the hostage taking and slaughter of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists in 1972 games in Munich. We also know that other Iranian, Yemeni and Saudis have refused to play Israeli athletes, in judo, even in table tennis. Why? Sure, Saddam Hussein used to kill athletes that failed him, and though he is now out of power, even in other countries Muslim athletes might feel humiliated by the press and public if they lost to an Israeli.

But no one is asking Arash to do a McGreevey with his Israeli. He is just to supposed to flip him—and instead, he “flips us all the bird”. This is a failure to compartmentalize, and perhaps a sense of inferiority that does not allow him to risk failure. While it may play well to nationalistic and chauvinistic sentiments, it shows a lack of maturity, and a lack of courage. Whether done by individual sportsmen, or by nations, failure to compete is perhaps worse than a failure to win. When we compete fairly, we all win in the end-- by building respect for basic human dignity and hope for the future potential of humanity. As imperfect humans, prisoners of history and desire, we all need these Olympic ideals.