Cites all over TheMat, and it’s being discussed quite a bit on TheMat Forums.
The Iranian wrestling team is easily one of the best in the world. Their faces are known in many countries outside of the middle east.
The US government insisted on fingerprinting every member of the Iranian wrestling team’s delegation to the World Championships, all three styles of which will be held in New York City this fall. Iran refused, and therefore are boycotting the championships.
The American team no-showed the freestyle World Championships last year when they were held in Iran and the government refused to guarantee the American team’s safety. The Greco-Roman and Women’s teams attended in other locations. In America’s absence, Iran walked away with the team World Championship.
IMHO, it’s bordering on the absurd to insist on fingerprinting world-famous athletes simply because they’re of Arab descent, Muslim and famous in a sport not popular in the United States. Iranian athletes have never caused any problems, and Iranian fans are, like, the best wrestling fans ever. I mean, it would be different if Iranian athletes had any history of using competitions as a cover to carry out terrorism, but as far as I know, they don’t.
FWIW, I’m a blue-eyed white boy. The only ‘stake’ I have in this is that I love to watch good wrestling, which Iranians provide in spades.