Iranian-Israeli Confrontations At Olympics Mixed Medley

An Iranian swimmer refused to compete against an Israeli swimmer at the Olympics today.

An Iranian swimmer pulled out of the Olympic Games men's 100m breaststroke heats on Saturday, just minutes before he was due to compete against an Israeli rival.

Mohammad Alirezaei's lane one was empty when the field left the starting blocks while Israel's Tom Beeri, starting in lane seven, finished fourth.

Israel, the Middle East region's sole if undeclared nuclear power, considers Iran its main strategic threat because of its nuclear programme and repeated predictions of the Jewish state's demise by senior Iranian leaders.

For a regime that calls for the destruction of Israel and sees itself as superior to the Israelis, they sure have an odd way of demonstrating it. Expect the swimmer to be welcomed home a hero and awarded for his cowardice by the mullahs in Tehran even though he chickened out in the race. Then again, he probably didn't want to be completely embarrassed by the Israeli swimmer who would likely have blown him out of the water.

The same may not be said for some Iranian basketball players, who came over and hugged the Russian coach. You see, the Russian coach, David Blatt, happens to have Israeli and American citizenship.