Egyptian judoka refuses to shake Israeli opponent's hand

In a gesture that flies in the face of everything the Olympic spirit is meant to represent, Egyptian judo fighter Islam El Shehaby refused to bow or shake the hand of his opponent, Israeli judoka Or Sasson.

Oh, and El Shehaby had just lost by the way.

Sasson handily defeated El Shehaby with two throws, resulting in an automatic win, with a minute and a half remaining on the clock. After going down the second time, El Shehaby remained lying on the mat for a moment before slowly returning to his feet, walking across the mat and standing opposite Sasson.

At this point it’s customary for judo fighters to bow or shake hands with one another.

But while Sasson made the customary bow to his opponent and crossed the mat to the motionless El Shehaby, extending his hand, the Egyptian refused to return the sportsmanlike gesture, backed away and went to make his exit before the ref called him back

El Shehaby returned to the edge of the mat and made the slightest of head nods before again striding off to a chorus of boos from the crowd.

Sasson, much to his credit, kept his dignity and exited with his head held high and a win in the books.

While there is no obligation to shake hands with an opponent, a bow is mandatory, not just according to Japanese tradition, but also to the rules of International Judo Federation.

Nicolas Messner, a spokesman for the Federation, said El Shehaby’s “attitude will be reviewed after the Games to see if any further action should be taken.”

Afterwards, El Shehaby, who is competing in his third Olympic Games, refused to comment.

Unfortunately, this is far from the first such incident that we’ve seen at these Games. Earlier this week, the head of the Lebanese Olympic delegation was reprimanded by the IOC for refusing to allow Israeli athletes to board the same bus as the Lebanese team.

A few days later Joud Fahmy, a Saudi judoka forfeited a first-round judo match against Israeli Gili Cohen. While the official word was that he was injured, there was speculation in the Israeli media and elsewhere that Fahmy’s true motivation was to avoid competing with an Israeli.