World News

32526 readers

797 users here now

News from around the world!

Rules:

Please only post links to actual news sources, no tabloid sites, etc
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, propaganda, etc

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

663

Iran bans weightlifter for life after he shakes Israeli’s hand on podium (www.aljazeera.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

137 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Iran has banned a weightlifter from sports for life and dissolved a sports committee after the athlete greeted an Israeli counterpart on a podium.

Mostafa Rajaei, a veteran weightlifter, finished second in his category in the 2023 World Master Weightlifting Championships in Poland and stood on a podium with an Iranian flag wrapped around him on Saturday.

On anther step of the podium stood Maksim Svirsky from Israel, who finished third.

The two athletes shook hands and took a picture together, which led to the Iran Weightlifting Federation banning Rajaei from all sports for life due to what it called an “unforgivable” transgression.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That's a different story to being told, for shaking hands after competing. So at the very least, if you're right, there's another plausible story than the one presented. Which casts doubt on the narrative. Which means we'd be wise to suspend our belief until there are better sources than unreliable western media that have a firm track record of being number one and refusing to shake hands with numbers two and three in making shit up competitions.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Far more eloquent than I could have put it myself. Thank you comrade.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

There are references in other reporting to a broadcast by Iranian state media. It's of course in Farsi so I'm having trouble finding it let alone reading it.