Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The Irony of a Judo Match

From ESPN.com:

Georgia's Tsirekidze beats Russian in semifinals, wins judo gold

BEIJING -- Irakli Tsirekidze won Georgia's second Olympic gold medal on Wednesday after advancing through an emotionally charged semifinal against Russia's Ivan Pershin.

Tsirekidze triumphed as world powers tried to implement a peace deal, agreed to in principle by Georgia and Russia, to halt a conflict over the South Ossetia region.

The 26-year-old world champion, who pointed at the Georgian insignia on the back of his judo suit after beating Pershin in the semifinal, won the title bout in a dour struggle against Algerian Amar Benikhlef.

"It means a lot for Georgia because as you know there is a conflict now," Tsirekidze told reporters through a translator.

"We are very happy today to have won two medals as it means very much for our country," he said."

....This situation is about as awkward as the Iranians competing against Israel or Russia competing against the US during the Cold War.

3 comments:

Nick L. said...

The situation was the same in the women's air shooting event. It came down to Russia and Georgia (I don't remember who won). The two women hugged each other on the podium during the medal ceremony. A nice Olympic moment, I thought.

Anonymous said...

you wimp - the georgian should have kicked her butt

Anonymous said...

how did george pass up smackin dat azz ???