Israel’s judo bronze medalist says he shrugged off Egyptian’s snub, focused on winning
Or Sasson dedicates his medal to all Israelis. Says he was taught to always shake hands after a fight, but opponent ‘didn’t want to go with it’
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Israel’s Or Sasson, who won a bronze medal in the men’s over-100kg judo competition at the Rio Games on Friday, said he shrugged off the snub earlier in the day when his defeated first-round Egyptian rival refused to shake his hand, and managed to focus instead on his quest for a medal. He said “my whole life led up to this amazing moment” of winning the bronze.
Sasson, 25, dedicated the medal “to all the people of Israel.” Speaking after the medal ceremony, he said to watching Israelis: “I love you all. This medal belongs to you all. I’m glad to have brought pride to Israel. I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Whenever I fly, I only want to get home.”
Sasson’s was Israel’s second bronze of the Games, following female judoka Yarden Gerbi’s bronze on Tuesday. He said her performance had helped him believe he too could succeed.
Sasson and Cuba’s Alex Maxell Garcia Mendoza fought a close tussle for the bronze, with no decisive moves, with Sasson prevailing by dint of fewer penalties.
Sasson, who turns 26 on August 18, had lost his semifinal fight to France’s Teddy Riner, the event’s outstanding performer, who went on to retain his gold medal.
The Israeli, a two-time European silver medalist, brushed off the unpleasant encounter with his defeated Egyptian opponent, Islam El-Shahaby.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nk8xCTTL-I
El-Shahaby refused to shake hands with Sasson after his defeat, or even bow in mutual respect. The Egyptian was ordered back to the floor to bow, was booed by the crowd, and later said he was quitting judo.
Very sad. Egyptian Judoka Islam El Shehaby refuses to shake hands with Israeli Ori Sasson after losing. https://t.co/vZYZZZhItq
— Raphael Gellar ????️ (@Raphael_Gellar) August 12, 2016
“I knew to put that incident aside,” said Sasson later. “Politics doesn’t matter when I’m on the mat.”
He said he had wanted to shake hands, as is the norm, because “I was educated to respect my opponents, no matter who they are… We always shake hands at the end of the fight. I stretched out my hand, but he didn’t go with it.”
El-Shahaby, for his part, told Egyptian media that Sasson tried to deliberately embarrass him with the handshake. He claimed in an interview with Al-Ahram that the international judo rules banned handshakes (which is true, but only before a match, not after it), dismissing the boos he received from the crowd for snubbing Sasson.
Sasson beat Poland’s Maciej Sarnacki in the second round and Roy Meyer of the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. The defeated Meyer paid tribute to Sasson’s fighting skills after their match, but told Israeli TV that he was not going to beat Riner.
As it turned out, Sasson held his own against Riner for much of the fight, only being outmaneuvered in the final few seconds.
In stark contrast to El-Shahaby’s behavior, Riner shook hands warmly with Sasson at the end of the encounter, and whispered some words of congratulation to the Israeli for his performance.
On Tuesday, fellow Israeli judoka Gerbi overcame an early loss to win bronze in the women’s under-63 kg in Rio, becoming the first Israeli athlete to win a medal at the 2016 games, and the first Israeli Olympic medalist since windsurfer Shahar Tzuberi took home the bronze in the 2008 games in Beijing.
Gerbi defeated Japan’s Miku Tashiru in the repechage to claim the third place spot.
AP contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.