For Linoy Ashram, the all-around final at the Tokyo Olympics was supposed to be the day of joy and celebration. She won Olympics gold – the first Israeli woman to do so, the first Israeli rhythmic gymnast, the first rhythmic gymnast not from a Soviet block at non-boycotted Olympics. For Russia, it was the first time they didn’t win gold since 2000 – Russians inevitably placed first at the last five Olympics.
Ashram placed higher than the reigning World all-around champion Dina Averina – Averina won AA gold at Worlds three times, in 2017, 2018, and 2019. Ashram was leading the competition before the fourth rotation and only a major mistake would’ve prevented her from winning. She did have a mistake – her ribbon fell – but according to the current rules, it wasn’t major and she likely got a 0.5 deduction for that. In the end, her score was higher by 0.15 and she took gold. Dina Averina did not take her silver graciously. She told the media that she considers herself the winner of the competition and that she even thought about standing on top of the medal podium as a form of a protest.
Comments followed from multiple Russian sports officials and athletes about the injustice of the fact that a gymnast can win gold despite an apparatus fall (the commenters appeared to have forgotten about the 2019 Worlds where Averina won gold despite one of her clubs falling). That, in turn, led to a wave of hate on social media towards Linoy Ashram. Soon, personal insults turned into anti-semitic like claims that Jews like gold too much or that they bought the judges and the whole thing is a conspiracy against Russia.
The conspiracy against Russia is a familiar tune – we’ve heard it many times from Svetlana Khorkina, for example. This idea has been raised again and again in connection to the doping “ban” that Russia got for its state-sponsored doping scheme that was discovered after the 2014 Winter Olympics. It goes beyond sports, though. It is well known that common enemy is very often a powerful uniting factor. That was true during the Soviet times when the “rotten West” featured in all the propaganda and it is still true now. In 2014, when Russia held the winter Olympics, invaded Ukraine, was sanctioned by the West, and went into a deep financial crisis, Putin’s approval ratings among the Russian population were almost at the all-time highest. Every single time those ratings rose to almost 90% was when Russia initiated a war and the government presented US or the West as the main enemy of the country.
Winning silver in both the all-around and group finals after five Olympic golds in a row fits this narrative of “Russia against the world”. It also redirects the attention to the evil/incompetent judges or the conspiracy against Russian rhythmic gymnastics from the abusive national program ridden with eating disorders and injuries. Claiming it was someone else’s fault will not force Russia to examine what should be changed in the program and still leaves the head coach Irina Viner with all the power. She even confirmed that this silver and the outrage that followed it is good for patriotism and for the popularity of the sport in Russia: “[Dina] raised the Russian spirit and patriotism for everyone – both for those who are interested in the sport and for those who aren’t. The level of patriotism rose exponentially because everyone saw how she was moved to the second place.”
Zionism was seen as anti-communist and anti-Soviet and any affiliation with Israel (and with Judaism which was also seen as anti-Soviet) were dangerous. The negative attitudes towards Israel were even reflected in the language and these attitudes continue . For example, there is a relatively new Russian expression (possibly became common around 20 years ago) “Hell and Israel” meaning “something really bad”. Antisemitism has never truly subsided in Russia (although the country is doing somewhat better than during pogroms or Stalin’s repressions) and Russian social media are filled with antisemitic posts about Ashram’s victory. People from other countries joined in – often not because they believe Averina should’ve won but because Ashram is from Israel and Israel is a bad country that should not exist.
Israeli athletes often face negative comments simply because of their citizenship and because by competing for Israel they, supposedly, participate in everything the Israeli government does. As representatives of Israel, they are also in danger when they compete internationally and the Munich Massacre shows just how much danger there can be.
One of the arguments for Israeli athletes being especially complicit in the government’s actions is the fact that most of them served in the army. The assumption is, it seems, that every Israeli that gets conscripted for their mandatory army service is immediately given a gun and some living targets which they eagerly start shooting. This appears to be the implication of this caricature that depicts blood-covered Israeli athletes with automatic weapons at the opening ceremony in Tokyo.
In fact, the majority of soldiers in the IDF do not serve in combat roles and do not hold arms beyond the basic training course they receive in the very beginning of the service. The non-combat roles include not only administrative/cleaning/cooking etc. positions but also roles that do not directly relate to the army like being a tutor for high-school kids. Athletes do not have a choice whether to serve or not – once they turn 18, they are subject to mandatory service. However, outstanding athletes like Ashram and Artem Dolgopyat can get a special status that allows them to serve for only half a day and take time off for competitions and training camps. The special status also means that they cannot serve in any role that requires lengthy training or that is vital for the functioning of the army – no one is going to give an important job to a soldier that leaves for two-three weeks every couple of months. Thus, the jobs that outstanding athletes get are largely inconsequential – for example, Dolgopyat was a maintenance worker at an army base and his job was to empty trash cans. Some athletes may enjoy their army service but overall it seems more like a hindrance as it takes time away from their training and also their ability to find a paying job (stipends for active soldiers in the IDF are notoriously low).
Another issue is that this position of “she is a soldier, so she participates in all the horrible things his country does” is reserved solely for Israeli athletes. There are athletes who are also in the military or connected to it in several countries. There was even a gymnastics competition for such athletes at the 2019 Military World Games in Wuhan, China. Xiao Ruoteng, Deng Shudi, and Caio Souza medalled in the all-around but I have yet to see fans slamming them for serving in their country’s army. Several Russian athletes compete for the army club CSKA and receive funding from the Russian Ministry of Defence, including Angelina Melnikova and David Belyavskiy. Alexey Nemov and Svetlana Khorkina competed for CSKA in the past and received the rank of colonel for their achievements. In fact, Ashram’s rival Dina Averina competes for CSKA. The main difference between the two is that Ashram had to do mandatory service that interfered with her training, while Averina doesn’t need to serve and just gets paid for promoting the Russian army. Nevertheless, she is not getting comments about being complicit in the annexation of Crimea.
Even some of the more egregious examples of athletes promoting the military or the government don’t get much attention when the athletes in question are not Israelis. For example, Nikita Nagorny became the head of the General Staff of the Young Army Cadets National Movement in 2020.
Fans celebrate the accomplishments of athletes from Russia despite the country’s horrible anti-LGBT laws and the fact that it annexed or occupied several territories in just the past ten years. They celebrate the accomplishments of Chinese athletes despite the fact that the Chinese government is putting Uyghurs in concentration camps. They celebrate the accomplishments of Turkish athletes despite the country’s government repeatedly violating the rights of Kurdish people or displacing and injuring or killing hundreds of civilians in Syria. They celebrate the accomplishments of US athletes, even though the US government is putting immigrants in camps and taking land and water from the indigenous population. I could go on and on but you get the picture.
In all these cases, fans understand that it is possible to proudly represent your country internationally but be against many of the government’s policies. Such complexity is rarely afforded to Israeli athletes, though. Israelis (and Jews outside of Israel for that matter) are divided into two categories – good and bad. “Good” ones are against the very existence of Israel and “bad” ones want Palestinians to go extinct. There is no in-between because allowing for complexity would mean admitting that Israelis are human, too, and not blood-thirsty characters from a caricature.
I find this article way to political. There is no antisimitic or political reason for the outrage in Russia. If Linoy was a christian gymnast from Ukraine, people would still complain. People just don`t understand the scoring system. They dont agree with the scores. That doesnt mean that they hate Linoy as a person. Linoy just never was a fan favourite. The same thing happened to Adelina Sotnikova when she won against Yuna Kim in the figure skating competition. I can also see similarities with Viktoria Komova getting the silver in London. People still think that she was robbed. Fame doesn`t come with a gold medal. The judges may like you but the audience does not. In my personal oppinion it is very clear that the russian team was not as clean in their execution as they think they are. Bulgaria deserved the medal. But I was a bit surprised by the scoring in the individual competition. I also felt that Linoy was a bit overscored and Arina and Dina underscored throughout the competition. But they way that the Russian Press is handling the situation is embarrassing. They act like children.
Don’t make me link to literally every article/study/scholar under the sun worth their salt reporting strong, open support for genocide from most sectors of Israeli society and the role of the IDF in it. Honestly good for Dina because while she and Khorkina maybe simps for the Russian government they are not wrong that Russia is scapegoated, especially since Israel can do ethnic cleansing and doesn’t get sanctioned/boycotted.
Spare us the #NotAllIsraelis sentiment. Just like how the internal soul of individual cops don’t matter because it’s a problem built into the system I couldn’t care less whether this frothy Israeli athlete is good in their heart or not.
No, really, link to it. All of it. And then maybe when you’re done, you can get the Russian poisoning and human rights violations articles that they mostly get away with, and the Chinese ones since they’re ACTUALLY ethnic cleansing with no repercussions/sanctions/boycotts.
And then maybe you can ask yourself why you only have a fixation on Israel.
Ethnic cleansing when the population is increasing? You are a really bad liar. But western countries killing and destroying Muslim countries are no problem as they are for freedom and democracy.
Ethnic cleansing when the population is increasing?
Kudos on this excellently written article. The gymternet is so Blessed to have you. Please continue to educate us. Peace to all.
Thank you for this extremely well written article. The double standard people display towards Israeli athletes is incredible
Totally agree. It doesn’t matter if you think the judging is unfair or not, or if you’re a fan of Dina or Linoy. This is actual racism and harassment targeted at a girl whose only crime is being happy that she won a gold medal.
i dont advise anyone to read facebook or youtube comments on this subject, i have read it and honestly people are completely beside themselves, the amount of hate distilled is insane