Free Republic

Fear of a hostile reaction has led US officials to warn its participants in the Games against overtly patriotic displaysBy Simon Hart in New York (Filed: 16/05/2004) American athletes have been warned not to wave the US flag during their medal celebrations at this summer's Olympic Games in Athens for fear of provoking crowd hostility and harming the country's already battered public image. The spectacle of victorious athletes grabbing a national flag and parading it around the stadium is a familiar part of international sporting competition, but US Olympic officials have ordered their 550-strong team to exercise restraint and avoid...

In an online registry of the world's nations, organizers of the Olympic Games in Greece have omitted listing Israel's capital. Instead of Jerusalem, the entry for "capital" has an asterisk that corresponds to a footnote reading: "Please visit the official United Nations website for further information regarding the capital of Israel." A few months ago, the website listed Jerusalem as the capital of "Palestine," while leaving the entry for Israel's capital blank, the Jerusalem Post reported. That prompted a protest from Israel, resulting in a compromise in which both the Israeli and Palestinian capitals would be omitted from the register....