Source/Credit: Yahoo News | EuroSports
By EuroSports | February 28, 2011
Iran has threatened to boycott the London 2012 Olympics unless organisers agree to change the design of the logo.
The Iranian government has lodged a formal protest with the International Olympic Committee over the four-year-old logo, claiming that it must be changed since it spells out the word 'Zion'.
And the Middle Eastern nation has warned that it will order its athletes to stay at home next summer unless the logo is replaced and its creators asked to explain themselves.
"As internet documents have proved, using the word Zion in the logo of the 2012 Olympic Games is a disgracing action and against the Olympics' valuable mottos," the Iranian government wrote in a letter to the IOC, which was released via the state-backed Iranian Students Agency.
"There is no doubt that negligence of the issue from your side may affect the presence of some countries in the Games, especially Iran which abides by commitment to the values and principles."
It's not the first time that the logo has been at the centre of an unusual complaint: it has been heavily criticised ever since first being unveiled in 2007, and has been compared to everything from a swastika to a stylised image of two people making love.
But this is the first time that the design of the logo has prompted a threat to stay away from the sporting showcase.
An IOC official confirmed that the letter had been received, but insisted that the logo "represents the figure 2012, nothing else" while a London 2012 spokesman told The Guardian that "we are surprised that this complaint has been made now".
Iran won two medals at the 2008 Olympics in China with its sole gold coming courtesy of Hadi Saei in the men's 80kg Taekwondo.
It fared better in recent Games before Beijing, claiming six in Athens in 2004 (two golds) and four in Sydney in 2000 (three golds).
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