A Saudi judo Olympic athlete withdrew from her first match against an Israeli competitor in Rio De Janeiro Sunday, but both countries give different accounts as to why the forfeit happened.
Israeli reports say that Joud Fahmy wanted to leave the competition because she would be able to go up against meet 25-year-old five-time Israeli champion Gili Cohen in the next round if she beat out Christianne Legentil from Mauritius.
However, the Saudi Olympic Delegation tweeted that Fahmy’s forfeit from the Olympic games was a result of injuring herself during training, and politics had nothing to do with it.
The Saudi delegation met with Israeli officials in July signaling that relations between the two nations have softened, despite Saudi Arabia refusing to recognize Israel.
Ultimately, Legentil moved on from the first round of 32 competitors by Fahmy’s default, which advanced her into the round of 16 competitors where she beat Cohen.
Lebanese Olympic athletes refused to board a bus of Israeli athletes last week until a separate bus was available for Israel’s competitors to travel on. According to The Times of Israel a Lebanaese official claimed the spat was misconstrued by media Officials at the Olympics.
Saleem a-Haj Nacoula, the head of the Lebanese delegation, however, told Lebanese media Saturday the Israelis were “looking for trouble” when they insisted on boarding the same bus as the Lebanese athletes.