Zen 729: Forget the 2012 Olympic logo - why aren't the Iranians annoyed about the marathon?

You've no doubt heard the news that the Iranian Olympic committee has made an official complaint about the London 2012 Olympic logo, claiming - as many anti-Semitic lunatic conspiracy theorists have already (see below) - that it spells the word 'ZION'. Never mind that you have to artfully rearrange the logo in order to achieve the desired effect. Following the same rationale, you can also detect the evil guiding hand of Lisa and Bart Simpson (see below below).

What is clear, however, is that the Olympic games harbour a much more direct affront to Iranian national pride which weirdly no-one seems to be too bothered about. Every Olympics of the modern era since 1896 has contained this exact same slap in the face, a fact that has failed to raise even a squeak from thin-skinned Holocaust denier Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

I am, of course, talking about the marathon. The event celebrates the legendary run of the messenger Pheidippides, who galloped 26 miles on foot from the place for which the running event is named to deliver the news that the Athenians had inflicted a resounding defeat on the numerically hugely superior Persian army, an event that was a deep and personal humiliation to the prestige of the Persian king Darius and arguably the beginning of the end of Persia's dominance as a regional superpower.

It's a bit like the British naming the archery event the 'Agincourt', or the open water swimming event the 'Trafalgar', and inviting the French to take part in the full knowledge of both parties that what we were really doing was reminding them that we'd given them a good stuffing and sent them home with their tails between their legs, while pretending it was an expression of transnational solidarity and togetherness under the flag of competitive sport.

Come to think of it, that's actually quite a good idea.


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Top rated comment: "Wow dude, I agree the logo is shit but you are just retarded." The top commenter is right. This guy is not only ignorant and racist, but illiterate too. Nice to see he's playing to type.



And here's Lisa and Bart.