OLYMPIC DIGEST JudoSaudi Arabia's female judo competitor will fight at the London Olympics "without a hijab", or Islamic headscarf, the sport's chief said yesterday.
Wodjan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shaherkani, one of the first two female athletes sent to the Olympics by the conservative Muslim kingdom, is due to compete in the women’s heavyweight tournament next Friday.
“She will fight according to the principle and spirit of judo, so without a hijab,” International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer said. The decision is likely to cause controversy in Saudi Arabia, where female participation in sports has long been a controversial issue. Powerful clerics denounce women for exercising, saying it goes against their natural role.
A Saudi official had told Reuters earlier this month they expected that the women would have to obey the dress code of Islamic law. He did not elaborate, but other conservative Muslim countries have interpreted this to mean a headscarf, long sleeves and long pants.
Shaherkani, who will compete in the 78kg category in judo, and teenage 800 metres runner Sarah Attar were the first Saudi women allowed to take part in the Olympics after talks between the International Olympic Committee and the country. The decision to allow female Saudi athletes to compete at London was praised by IOC president Jacques Rogge at the time.
Puspure concentrating on her own race as draw revealed
RowingIreland's Sanita Puspure will take on a big hitter when she goes into her first race in the Olympic Games tomorrow at 1.30pm.
Emma Twigg of New Zealand, a medallist in the last two World Championships, will race alongside Puspure in a heat which also includes Donata Vistartaite of Lithuania, who finished ninth in the world last year. Iran, Argentina and Brazil complete the line-up.
The top four of the six go directly through to Tuesday’s quarter-finals, and Puspure said yesterday she was looking forward to racing as she tapers her training at Dorney Lake.
“Mileage is down now, so it’s fun!” she said. “The draw is all right, but I just need to focus on my row: make sure I do the job in the first round and get through.”
There is strong Irish interest in three other Olympic boat classes: the New Zealand men’s four entry features Seán O’Neill, a Limerick man who rowed for Ireland in this class in Beijing; the Britain lightweight four – who are real medal contenders – has Coleraine brothers Peter and Richard Chambers on board, while the Britain single sculler is Alan Campbell, another Coleraine man.
– LIAM GORMAN
Ireland will win four medals, says economics professor
PredictionsIreland will win four medals – one of them gold – at the London Olympics.
This isn’t just any other stab-in-the-dark prediction though, it comes from an acclaimed academic who has had a 93 per cent accuracy rate over the last four Olympics in predicting how many medals a country will win.
The success rate of Professor Don Johnson, a Professor of Economics at Colorado College, is believed to be down to the fact that he ignores athletic ability to focus instead on economics.
Professor Johnson looks at data such as per-capita income and a nation’s population to come up with his figures.
Prof Johnson predicts that the United States will win the most gold medals at these games (34) followed by China (33) and Russia (25) with host nation, Britain coming in fourth with 20 golds.
Chondrokoukis tests positive
DopingGreece's world indoor high jump champion Dimitris Chondrokoukis withdrew from the Olympics yesterday after testing positive for the drug Ben Johnson used before the 1988 Seoul Games.
Johnson was sent home in disgrace after metabolites of the anabolic steroid stanozolol were found in his urine sample following his victory over Carl Lewis in the 100 metres final in world record time.
Chondrokoukis’s father and coach Kyriakos said the athlete would seek a retest after a positive test for stanozolol. “I will fight – we will fight – to respond and see exactly what happened,” a statement from Kryiakos Chondrokoukis said.
Hungarian discus thrower Zoltan Kovago, a silver medallist at the 2004 Athens Games, will also miss the Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport said he had failed to provide a sample when requested.
