The Indonesian authorities have refused to grant visas to the six member Israeli gymnastics team for the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships starting on Sunday in Jakarta.
The decision will see, among other, defending floor exercise champion and Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Artem Dolgopyat, denied the chance to compete. The 2023 world champion is out of the championships not because of what he had done, but because of geopolitics.
The main reason for the refusal was the Israel-Palestine conflict. Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, does not have any diplomatic ties with Israel.
Israel Gymnastics Federation (IGF) had filed an urgent appeal at the Court of Abbreviation for Sports (CAS), requesting the panel to either allow them to participate or relocate/cancel the tournament. The appeal was later rejected by CAS citing lack of jurisdiction.
Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) had also stated that they had no say in the matter as they had no authority over visa allocation.
This is not the first time that the participation of Israeli athletes have been shut out from international tournaments.
Indonesia had, in fact allowed Israeli badminton player Misha Zilberman to compete at the 2015 World Badminton Championships in Jakarta, though he faced significant visa issues that caused delays in his arrival. He was granted entry only a day before his first match, that he lost.
Neighbours Malaysia were stripped the hosting rights of the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) because it refused to allow Israeli athletes to compete.
While the Israeli participation in most sporting events in any Muslim countries has been controversial, they are not the only country to be isolated in some of the major sporting events around the globe.
Russia and Belarus are still barred by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from the Olympics.
Athletes from Russia have been from competing in the Olympics as a country since 2017 for the fourth time in a row, are competing as what’s known as individual neutral athletes, or “AIN” from the French translation. They will be joined by athletes from Belarus, which is banned as a country for the first time. The two nations are banned over involvement in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Ironically, Israel, who are involved in a protracted war with Palestine, are not banned because of it but the reason given was the non-diplomatic relationship between Indonesia and Israel.
Meanwhile, the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) lifted the partial bans on Russia and Belarus recently much to the surprise of many. Two contrasting decision by the two major multi-sport organisations.
The selected persecution of these athletes, while may have its own justification, had also opened up sports to more politicization
US president Donald Trump has already flexed his muscles, blocking the Iranian delegation from entering the country in December for the World Cup draw.
That he will make a similar move to stop the Iranians from entering the USA for the tournament proper is still a distinct possibility.
The previous two World Cups had a fast-track, temporary visa process, but the US has yet to offer such a program.
It is not about only the participating teams, Trump may grudgingly allow the team to participate but could still stop fans, from numerous countries that are not in his good books, from entering the US to support their respective teams.
Apart from Iranian fans, others who may find themselves in similar predicament include fans from Brazil, Paraguay, Colombo and Morocco
All of these countries, which have qualified for the tournament, requires citizens to obtain a B1/B2 visa to enter the U.S. It will be an uphill task for many of their fans to make the trip to the USA.
It could be even worse in 2028 with Los Angeles set to host the Summer Olympics. Trump has a long list of countries that he has personal problems with and no one can guess what his actions will be.
Sports is apolitical, say many sports leaders, but when governments and federations get to pick and choose who they like, or don’t, sports becomes a political tool.
For context, Russian gymnasts Russian gymnasts will compete at the World Gymnastics Championships in Jakarta as AIN but Israeli athletes are completely barred. Common sense would be that the affected Israel athlete could participate as AIN athletes as well.
The FIG contract provides that entry visas “must be granted” to athletes. This is in keeping with the Olympic Charter. If not, the contract says, the “allocation of the event would be canceled with immediate effect” by the FIG executive committee.
The FIG took the easy way out by passing the onus to Indonesia without enforcing their own contract.
What is more alarming is that both the newly appointed Indonesian Minister of Youth and Sports, Erick Thohir and the FIG president Morinari Watanabe are both IOC members.
Neither seems to adhere to the OIympic Charter, that the IOC swears by.
S.T. Arasu is a two-time Malaysian Sportswriter of the Year
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