farmdoc's blog post number 150

The Iranians are at it again, and therefore so am I. First, an Iranian Olympic swimmer’s mysterious illness fortuitously prevented him swimming against an Israeli. (I’m unaware of an Olympic inquiry into that episode. There should have been one.) Then last Saturday the Iranian men’s wheelchair basketball team withdrew from the Beijing Paralympics competition just before its quarterfinal ‘due to dissatisfaction with the draw’. Wonder of wonders – Iran’s quarterfinal was against the USA, and if successful Iran’s semifinal opponent would have been the winner of Canada and Israel. The Tehran Times stated the facts, but not the reason for the ‘dissatisfaction with the draw’. The incident was reported similarly in USA and Israel, including an Iranian official’s denial that the forfeit was politically motivated. He needed to, but didn’t, explain the basis of the ‘dissatisfaction with the draw’. I can’t imagine any non politically motivated basis for it. The International Wheelchair Basketball Federation said it ‘regrets this decision taken by Iran’. Regret is not enough, IWBF; it’s feeble and pathetic. Politics and sport don’t mix. Shouldn’t mix. Can’t mix. If Iran wants to be a member of the brotherhood of nations then it needs to act like one. The International Paralympic Committee’s Paralympic Vision and Mission mentions fair play without political, religious or racial discrimination. Appeasement is an insult to the IPC and all Paralympians.