He is avoided, but not only for sporting reasons: Israel’s judoka Tohar Butbul (left).
Photo: picture alliance / Jonas Gättler / dpa
The manifestations of peace and the healing power of sport from the opening ceremony on Friday evening had not even been able to reverberate for a day when the Tokyo Summer Olympics were brought back to reality by the Middle East conflict. The Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine was supposed to fight the Sudanese Mohamed Abdalrasool in the weight class up to 73 kilograms in round one this Monday morning, but he will not compete in this competition. The reason: If he won, he would then meet Tohar Butbul, who comes from Israel.
Nourine really wanted to avoid this fight, so he completely renounced the Olympics. Why he did so, the Algerian and his coach Amar Ben Yekhlef made no secret in an interview with an Algerian television station: “We worked a lot to reach the Olympic Games, but the Palestinian cause is bigger than all that,” said Nourine . “We weren’t lucky with the draw,” added the coach. The country rejects a normalization of the relationship with Israel. “We made the right decision,” said coach Yekhlef.
The International Judo Federation IJF started investigations against the 30-year-old athlete and his coach on Saturday. Both have been suspended for the time being, and a disciplinary commission should now decide on further consequences, the IJF said. The Olympic Committee of Algeria has also already decided to send the duo home and also wants to examine sanctions. The world federation stated that the statements of Nourine and his coach were “in total contrast to the philosophy” of the IJF. Judo is based on solidarity, respect and friendship, so any form of discrimination cannot be tolerated.
It is nowhere near the first time that athletes from Muslim countries refuse to compete against Israelis because they or their governments do not recognize the state. Nourine herself had already refused a fight at the 2019 World Cup for the same reason. At that time, however, this did not seem to have any consequences for the newly crowned African champion.
The case of the Iranian Saeid Mollaei recently made headlines in judo. He had also received instructions in August 2019 at the World Championships, which also took place in Tokyo, not to compete in his semifinals. If there was a victory, there was the possibility of meeting the Israeli Sagi Muki in the final battle. Mollaei, however, resisted the instruction and then fled to Germany for fear of reprisals from his association. Two years later he is back in Japan’s capital and will compete in the Olympic Games for Mongolia on Tuesday. He now describes Sagi Muki as a very good friend. Sometimes it works out with international understanding in sport.
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