A recent decision by Saudi athlete Jude Fahmy to prematurely drop out of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has raised questions and caused controversy on social media.
Fahmy was slated to represent Saudi Arabia at the Women’s Judo event at this year’s Olympics, but chose not to participate in a match against Mauritius as a result of injuries she sustained in training and was disqualified shortly after.
Although the official Saudi Twitter account for the 2016 games stated that her absence was a result of a training injury, numerous Israeli media outlets claim that Fahmy dropped out of the competition for fear of beating the judoka from Mauritius and facing an Israeli athlete in the following round.
The Times of Israel ran the headline “Saudi judoka forfeits Rio match, apparently to avoid Israeli” citing a report by the Hebrew-language Ynet news, and left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz ran a similar story - though it is unclear whether these claims are true.
Many took to Twitter to comment on the confusion surrounding Fahmy’s early departure from the Rio games.
لاعبة الجودو السعودية جود فهمي تنسحب من منافسات اليوم بسبب الإصابة .. ومصادر إسرائيلية تتحدث عن انسحاب تكتيكي لتجنب مواجهة لاعبة إسرائيلية.
— ايمان الحمود (@imankais1) August 7, 2016
“Saudi judoka Jude Fahmy pulls out of the competition today because of an injury… Meanwhile, Israeli sources are saying its a tactical move to avoid facing an Israeli athlete. “
Not all were outraged at Israeli media, some praised Fahmy for allegedly refusing to compete with Israeli athletes despite the absence of information confirming the story.
السعودية جود فهمي البطلة بنت الشرفاء
— همّام (@kkllww1111) August 8, 2016
انسحبت من أولمبياد #ريو لرفضها لقاء
لاعبة #أسرائيلية ، بغبار نعلك كل من طبع .! pic.twitter.com/RM3lYQcAYD
“The Saudi champion Jude Fahmy, the honorable girl who pulled out of the Rio Olympics and refused to compete with an Israeli athlete. The people who normalize [with Israel] are the dirt on your boots”
This is not the only time that the Israeli delegation has appeared in the news for reasons other than athletics. Earlier this week, the Lebanese delegation allegedly prevented Israeli athletes from riding on the same bus to the Olympic opening ceremonies.
Fahmy has not yet commented on the issue personally. Whether politics had any role in her early departure from the Olympics remains to be seen.
