Judo officials hope to avert new diplomatic incident
Judo competitors are among those collecting the first gold medals today while behind the scenes officials scamble to avoid another diplomatic incident – this time with Saudi Arabia over a hijab ban.
Saudi Arabia, which has sent a female judo contender to the Games, has complained about the ban to the International Olympic Committee and talks are underway to avert another international incident.
London 2012 has already had to apologise to the North Korean Olympic team after displaying South Korea’s flag next to North Korean athletes at the first sporting event. As a result, the female football team walked off the pitch and delayed the start of the match for one hour in protest.
The International Judo Federation is moving in the opposite direction of most sports which allow the Islamic headscarf. The International soccer federation Fifa last month approved the wearing of head scarves, banned since 2007. The International Weightlifting Federal lifted its ban last year, allowing a team from the United Arab Emirates to complete.
Judo’s international sporting body said it banned headscarves for safety reasons as judo involves grabbing clothing and using choke holds.
“The athlete from Saudi Arabia will fight in the spirit of judo and according to the principles of judo without a hijab,” Marius Vizer, the Austrian president of judo’s world governing body, said.
‘Suitable clothing’
But Saudi athletes are strict under orders to compete wearing suitable clothing.
Prince Nawaf bin Faisal, Saudi Arabia’s most senior sports official, said female athletes could compete as long as they wore “suitable clothing that complies with sharia (religious law)”. The athletes must also have a guardian with them and they must not “mix” with men during the Games. Men and women use the same judo warm-up area and fight next to each other on mats.
Caught in the midst of the controversy is Saudi Arabian judo hopeful Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani.The International Olympic Committee lobbied hard to get Saudi Arabia to send female athletes this year. It is the first time in history that all 205 nations have sent both men and women athletes to the summer Games and there has been no indication so far that Shahrkhani will not participate.
Stuck in the dark ages?
The judo competition gets underway at London’s ExCeL at 9:30am today with medals in the men’s 60kg and women’s 48kg sections decided by the afternoon. Over the next seven days, 386 athletes will compete for the gold in 14 weight categories ranging from below 48kg to above 100kg.
Shahrkhani is to compete in the +78kg category, which means the eighteen-year-old is not scheduled to perform until early August, giving officials time to negotiate a solution.
She and Saudi Arabian 800m runner Sarah Attar are the only female competitors for the kingdom, which traditionally selects male athletes.
The sport of judo is not known for its forward-looking thinking. Judo was first included in the 1964 summer Olympic Games in Tokyo but women were not awarded medals until the 1992 Olympics.