Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Israeli Coach Blatt with the Iranian basketball player in Beijing.

Iranian Basketball Team Shakes Israeli Coach’s Hand

(JPost)

Following the Russian basketball victory over Iran in the second day of competition at the Beijing Olympics, both teams - including the coaches - congratulated each other by hugging and shaking hands, despite the fact that the coach of the Russian national team was an Israeli.

The game was the first time in years that Iran had not boycotted a sporting event in which it would compete against Israeli sports figures. Prior to his position as the Russian Olympic coach, David Blatt was a coach for Maccabi Tel Aviv.

The friendly post-game exchange was far from hidden, with one photographer capturing a picture of Blatt hugging the Iranian star center Hamed Ehadadi.

In a joint press conference held after the game, Blatt told reporters that the Iranian team was a “great bunch.”

“They have a couple of good players,” Blatt said. “Some of them are even fit for the Euroleague.”

The former Maccabi coach said that although he had thought of the political significance of playing Iran before and after the game, it was not a factor during the match.

“I didn’t have any special feelings during the game,” he said. “That’s the beauty of the sport. The moment you begin to run, you forget everything, and everybody’s the same.”

“The problem, unfortunately, is not between the simple people or the athletes,” Blatt continued. “The problem is between the leaders and principles of both sides.”

Although throughout the press conference the Iranian players happily answered questions posed by Israeli journalists - without necessarily knowing the country of origin of those journalists - one question clearly caught the captain of the Iranian team off-guard.

When asked how he felt about competing against a team led by an Israeli coach, Samad Nikkhah Bahrami hesitated, then said, “No, no, I’m not talking about that. We came here to play, there’s no need to mix politics and sport.”

Iran Swimmer Avoids Israeli Pool Showdown In Beijing

An Iranian swimmer pulled out of the Olympic Games men’s 100m breaststroke heats on Saturday, just minutes before he was due to compete against an Israeli rival.
Mohammad Alirezaei’s lane one was empty when the field left the starting blocks while Israel’s Tom Beeri, starting in lane seven, finished fourth.

Israel, the Middle East region’s sole if undeclared nuclear power, considers Iran its main strategic threat because of its nuclear programme and repeated predictions of the Jewish state’s demise by senior Iranian leaders.

During the 2004 Athens Olympics, Iran’s judo world champion Arash Miresmaeili, one of the country’s prominent gold medal hopes, refused to compete against Ehud Vaks of Israel in the first round out of solidarity for the Palestinian cause.

Miresmaeili, twice a winner of the flyweight world title, still received a 5,000-dollar award the Iranian National Olympic Committee had promised to medal winners and he was hailed by former President Mohammad Khatami for his stance.

Beeri made no mention of Saturday’s non-appearance of Alirezaei post-race.

“It was okay for me, I have to be happy with that. It was a PB (personal best) for me and a national record, I am focusing on the 200 metres,” he said.

“I wasn’t nervous, I just came here ready and I wasn’t nervous at all.”

There had been reports that Iran would compete against Israel at these Olympic Games for the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The Iranian National Olympic Committee (INOC) had said that as there was “no face-to-face situation” in swimming there would be no problem in attending the competition.

“Alirezaei swims in lane one and the representative of the Zionist regime (Israel) in lane seven, so they will not face each other,” INOC secretary Ali Kafashian told ISNA news agency prior to the race.

According to ISNA, also the country’s sports organisation, which is part of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government, had confirmed that there would no be boycott in the race.
(AFP)