Mostafa Rajaei, a veteran weightlifter, finished second in his category in the 2023 World Master Weightlifting Championships in Poland and stood on a podium with an Iranian flag wrapped around him on Saturday.

On anther step of the podium stood Maksim Svirsky from Israel, who finished third.

The two athletes shook hands and took a picture together, which led to the Iran Weightlifting Federation banning Rajaei from all sports for life due to what it called an “unforgivable” transgression.

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[–] Maruki_Hurakami@lemm.ee 35 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Fencing has a customary handshake.

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And an alternative tapping of the swords, which the Russian refused.

[–] PapstJL4U@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

and holding of the sword for tapping was one of the pictures circulated, that made the ukraine fencer look aggressive.