VIDEO: Egyptian judoka who refused to shake hands with Israeli opponent excluded from Rio Olympics 2016

The International Olympic Committee announced that Egyptian judoka Islam El Shehaby, who refused to shake hands with Israeli opponent, was excluded from the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The decision to send El Shehaby home was taken by the leadership of the Egyptian delegation after he lost Friday’s confrontation with the Israeli athlete Or “Ori” Sasson. Just an hour after overcoming el-Shehaby, OriSasson won the bronze medal in the men’s judo 100+ kilogram weight class by defeating Cuban opponent Alex Maxell Garcia Mendoza.

islam el-shehaby

El-Shehaby, here at the 2010 World Judo Championships in Tokyo, Japan (wikimedia)

The Egyptian admitted that he did not want to shake hands with an Israeli and, in accordance with the rules of judo, is not obliged to do so, but CIO contradicted him, pointing out that El Shehaby’s behaviour violated the rules of fair-play and the Olympic spirit.

“The Disciplinary Committee considers that such behavior is against the rules of fair play and the friendship spirit embodied in the Olympic values,” said the IOC in a statement.

Some media outlets claim that the Egyptian was constrained right before the fight to even completely withdraw from the competition. “You embarrass Islam. If you lose, you’ll embarrass an entire nation and yourself” was one of the messages received by El Shebaby.

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According to Wikipedia, Miresmaili was disqualified from competing because he was above the allowed weight limit for his class. He was apparently more than two kilos over the 66-kilogram weight limit. However, it was claimed that Miresmaili intentionally set out to be disqualified, rather than compete against an Israeli, which was understood from Miresmaili’s own comments: “Although I have trained for months and was in good shape I refused to fight my Israeli opponent to sympathise with the suffering of the people of Palestine and I do not feel upset at all.”
Photo credit: XIIIfromTOKYO [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Video: Egyptian judoka El Shehaby refuses to shake hands with Israeli Or Sasson

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