More Olympic spirit

As in smells like. Christie Blatchford in the Globe and Mail:

Athens - At the rear of the Ano Liossia Olympic Hall yesterday, Yudi Vaks squatted down onto his heels and buried his big square head in his arms - imagine the fetal position gone vertical - and sobbed.

The 24-year-old judoka wept for Arash Miresmaeili, the young Iranian who didn't fight him because Mr. Vaks is a Jew from the hated state of Israel, and the Islamic Republic of Iran does not let its athletes compete against Israelis. He would rather have had Mr. Miresmaeili beat the snot out of him, as indeed the reigning world champion in the half-light class likely would have done, than advance through the first round via a DNS - short for did not show.

"It's not the way I wanted to win," Mr. Vaks said. "Sport is more than two people fighting judo; it's contesting. It's really unfair for him. It's a small world, judo. I admire him. He's a great player.

"I'm sure, given the chance," he said, voice breaking a little, "he would fight. It feels horrible, for him. I don't have to imagine how I feel when I lose, but this is worse. They didn't even let him fight."
.....
[C]ast as an overtly political withdrawal, it could result in a sanction of sorts if it were deemed at odds with Olympic ideals, or so the International Judo Federation's Michel Brousse was thundering yesterday after the agency met in emergency session.

So there was Mr. Miresmaeili showing up for the weigh-in yesterday morning, officially too heavy, and by such an unusually large margin for a world-class athlete that the judo federation is investigating the matter.
.....
Mr. Vaks's miserable experience is an apt metaphor for what Israeli athletes go through all the time.

When the Palestinian delegation marched into the Olympic Stadium at the opening ceremonies last week, they were warmly welcomed. When the Iraqis came in, they got a standing ovation and the loudest cheers of the night. Even the Americans were greeted with polite, if unenthusiastic, applause.

But the small Israeli team - 36 athletes competing in 14 sports - was met with quiet so complete it was shocking.

"I noticed the silence," Yaron Michaeli, an Israeli TV journalist seconded to the team as press attaché, said yesterday. "Maybe they had their reasons, but it's the opposite of what the Olympics are supposed to be."

The Berlin Olympics, the Munich Olympics... world without guilt or shame.