Yesterday in London during the 2012 Paralypmic Games certain royalty got snubbed… for cultural reasons. The royal was none other than the Duchess of Cambridge herself, Kate Middleton.
The games were nearly overshadowed when Iran’s silver medal winner, Mehrdad Karam Zadeh, declined to shake her hand. What is a poor princess to do? Is it that Zadeh didn’t realize who Duchess Kate was? Or was he snubbing her intentionally? Looks like it wasn’t either. Supposedly.
Hollywood Hiccups Reports, “Sources said the athlete had refused a handshake for cultural reasons. Physical contact between unrelated men and women is forbidden in Iran and other conservative Muslim societies. The Iranian Paralympic delegation told officials that Zadeh would have shaken hands if the medal had been presented by a man.”
While being handed the medal, Zadeh bowed to accept his award and didn’t shake Kate’s hand. The audacity! Just kidding. However, this all went down in front of 80,000 spectators at the Olympic Stadium. What a way to take focus away from an amazing achievement. Although, to Kate’s credit, she was reportedly told that Zadeh would not shake her hand before the event took place. It’s pretty hard to believe that just by pictures alone, Kate looks pretty bewildered by what’s going on. Maybe that’s because it’s her first royal duty at the games (and maybe her last). It’s believed the athlete was merely conforming to Iranian/Muslim cultural convention, forbidding men from shaking hands with unrelated women.
Do you think that people of various religious persuasions should impose their cultural biases at the Olympics or Paralympics? That’s a hard call, tell me what you think.
