Judo champion who defied Iran's rules now in hiding

Iran should be banned from world events if they are ordering athletes to purposely lose or prohibit them from competition with certain countries. Sucks for their athletes but the integrity of international meets needs to be preserved.

@Random - I disagree - Sporting events should not be consider Politics.

Fairness of the competition should be Paramount... which is why we have seen some Nations Athletes banned - such as from Russia and the US.

Nothing else, apart from the Sport should be Considered, regardless how you may feel towards their Country of origin. The Athlete's are individuals, and to be respected towards what they can attain on their own or as a team.

Sport transcends Race, Politics and Religion and should forever do so.

A Nation can not order an Athlete to "loose" an event... as that is debasing for the Athletes they provided.

Neither can they demand that an Athlete wins under penalty - and, should that be the case, we should protect those Athletes with immediate asylum. I hope Japan does that during this forthcoming Olympics!

Sport needs to be protected, and enshrined in Global Laws that prevent Politicization.

This also has the downside of making some Sports Players Political Statements anti-game... which needs addressing.

@mmw, I'm not sure where you are disagreeing. My comment had nothing specifically to do with Iranian politics. It was about any country, just happened that this athlete is participating for Iran. Any country that orders an athlete to purposely lose threatens the integrity of the game.

Why did you put "loose" in parentheses? 'Lose' was spelled correctly in the article and by me.