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August 8, 2008

Discrimination at the Olympics right off the bat

Ethel C. Fenig
During the  opening ceremony extravaganza of the 2008 Beijing Olympics--and the games themselves--let's remember another group of athletes who will not be allowed to participate. 

Not well known and thus little commented on but according to a brave Saudi woman activist who posted a video
"participating in the Olympics is the impossible dream for Saudi women, until they lift the ban on sports for women in public schools and government universities."
The MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute) blog, which reported this, has several screen shots of Saudi female athletes from the video. 

According to Fox News  based on a report from Cybercast News,
 the Saudi team does not include a single woman. In the eight summer Olympics in which the kingdom has participated since 1972, it has sent a total of 166 men and no women.
Now of course the International Olympic Committee brags it prohibits discrimination of any kind, claiming the participants are the best from each country.
 But a member of the Saudi royal family sits on the IOC's 110-member committee.
 Oh.

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