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EXCLUSIVE: Israeli national team gymnasts Lihie Raz and Eyal Indig discovered that all their training work for the world championships would be wasted just days after their country’s historic peace deal to end the war in Gaza.
They had just experienced the joy of seeing the last remaining living hostages return home.
“We started the week with one of the happiest moments in the last two years, watching the hostages live come home and finally being able to take a half breath knowing they came home with us,” Indig told Pak Gazette Digital.
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Then came shocking news.
“It seemed to come out of nowhere,” said Raz, an Olympian from Paris for Israel.
Lihie Raz of Team Israel trains on the vault during a gymnastics training session ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 25, 2024, in Paris, France. (Tom Weller/VOIGT/GettyImages)
They first learned from a news article that the Indonesian government was blocking their visas to enter the country for the 2025 world artistic gymnastics championships in Jakarta.
Raz and Indig allege they were told the Indonesian government was denying them visas due to security concerns.
“The formal reason given by the Indonesian government was that our participation would endanger ourselves and the other national delegations,” Indig said.
But Indig claims that the team’s own security team had given them permission to enter the city, after a prior inspection.
Indig cited security measures that the country’s sports teams have used for decades since the 1972 Munich Olympics, when eight terrorists associated with the group Black September, affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization, sneaked into the Olympic Village on a failed mission to take athletes hostage. The mission resulted in the deaths of six Israeli coaches, five athletes, a West German police officer, and five terrorists.
“For us it was very strange,” Indig said. “That same security did a scan a week before our flight, in Indonesia, they were in Indonesia, and they cleared everything in terms of security. So we had full clearance from the Israeli security team, and believe me, they wouldn’t clear anything that wasn’t safe. And our federation kept telling us it was safe.”
Indig later called Indonesia’s decision “a blatant incident of discrimination on the basis of nationality.”
When asked if he believed the recent ceasefire with Hamas would result in fewer incidents of international sporting exclusion of Israelis, in what has been a growing trend, Indig said. “I certainly hope so. But one thing I can say is that this incident has nothing to do with the ceasefire. It is a blatant incident of discrimination on the basis of nationality.”
Both Indig, Raz and their teammates have traveled to other Muslim-majority nations, including Azerbaijan, Egypt, Turkey and Qatar, to compete and have had no problems.
Pak Gazette Digital contacted the Indonesian embassy in the United States, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the press office of the country’s president, Prabowo Subianto, for a response.
Indonesian Sports Minister Erick Thohir defended his country’s decision in a statement issued the last week of October.
“We adhere to the principle of maintaining security, public order and public interest when hosting every international event,” he said.
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The Israel Gymnastics Federation filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in an attempt to force the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) to guarantee Israel’s participation or, alternatively, cancel or move the event to a new location.
Indig and Raz say they were hopeful that they and their teammates would simply be allowed into the country in time for the competition.
That’s why they never stopped training.
“It was really difficult,” Raz said of his training in the few days of uncertainty.
“They’ve already told you that you’re not going, but they said they’re still working on it, but the chances are low. But I knew because, even in the slightest possibility that we were going to compete, I wanted to stay in the best shape. So, after all these problems, I could still go out and show my best performance.”
They claim they initially learned the news on a Friday and that their flight would leave the following Monday. Amid the uncertainty, the team delayed its flight one day, from Monday to Tuesday, waiting to see if the appeal would be accepted. So they spent that extra Monday training more.
Then Tuesday came and their flight was delayed again due to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, and they continued training.
But that Tuesday night, October 14, the CAS rejected the country’s appeal. His hopes of winning the world championship were over.
“After the CAS decision there was nothing else to do, so we finally decided,” Indig said.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) quickly issued a statement that same week condemning Indonesia’s treatment of the team. The IOC subsequently issued a statement advising against the scheduling of other major sports competitions in Indonesia by world governing bodies, and even cut off all talks with the country over future Olympic hosting rights.
But gymnastics’ world governing body was more sympathetic to Indonesia.
FIG President Morinari Watanabe and Secretary General Nicolas Buompane defended the Indonesian government’s reasoning over security concerns as global controversy over the situation grew, at a press conference on October 18.
“We were disappointed and frustrated because for us sports is a place free of politics,” Raz said. “We are disappointed that they put us in this situation, they did not support us,” he added of the FIG’s response.
Still, Raz and Indig watched the competitions in Indonesia that week, as loyal gymnastics fans would.
Raz said that made the situation even more difficult.
“Watching the competition was difficult, it was difficult because we watched the competition because we really wanted to be there and compete,” he said.
Indig found solace in supporting Team USA’s Donnell Whittenburg, who became the first American to win gold in men’s rings in the event after suffering an injury last year.
“I broke both elbows during a freak accident a year and a half ago and underwent two surgeries to try to get back into gymnastics,” she said. “So for me, seeing Donnell Whittenburg, who tore his Achilles tendon just a year ago…it was amazing to see.”
Indig also said he received private support from other competitors who were at the event.
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Still, both Raz and Indig wonder if the podium results would have been different if their team had been allowed into the country.
Raz even went so far as to say that she is “sure” the results would have been different if Israeli star and Olympic men’s floor exercise gold medalist Artem Dolgopyat had been there.
“We are sure that the podium image would have been different if he had competed on the ground,” Raz said.
Artem Dolgopyat of Team Israel competes during the Artistic Gymnastics Men’s Floor Exercise Final on day eight of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Bercy Arena on August 3, 2024 in Paris, France. (Tom Weller/VOIGT/GettyImages)
The two gymnasts had planned a vacation after the championships, as a respite from the intensity of the competition. They decided to take the vacation despite the incident. They traveled through Africa and stopped in Zanzibar before embarking on a safari in Kenya.
“Emotionally, we were very exhausted,” Raz said, while both gymnasts said the trip was much needed after the stress of the situation.
And now they are back training, now more motivated for their next competitions, ahead of the 2026 World Championships, 27 and potentially the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
They do not expect problems similar to those that occurred in Indonesia to be repeated in other competitions, as they say their federation and the Israel Olympic Committee have given them some degree of assurance that measures are being taken to prevent this.
“Our federation did and continues to do everything possible to prevent this from happening, as does the Israeli Olympic Committee,” Raz said. “Everyone is okay with this situation and is trying to avoid another one.”
Indig added: “We are on high alert, everyone is on high alert and we are doing everything we can to ensure this does not happen.”
Indonesia’s sanction is just the latest example of restrictions imposed on Israel’s sports teams and fans in recent months.
He israeli prime minister The tech cycling team has been excluded from an upcoming race in Italy, the Giro dell’Emilia, scheduled for October 4, due to potentially disruptive pro-Palestinian protests.
The UEFA Europa League, Europe’s largest football body, was reported to be moving towards a vote to suspend Israel over the war in Gaza in September. FIFA President Gianni Infantino later announced on October 3 that no action would be taken against the team.
Fans of the israeli The Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team is banned from attending a Europa League match in Birmingham, England, on Nov. 6 for security reasons, after the team’s fans were attacked in Amsterdam at a match against Ajax last fall.
