Israel, Chris Froome & Sportswashing
The term ‘sportswashing’ gets brandished whenever geo-political tensions and sport intersect. Put simply it refers to powers, typically states using sporting events/franchises as a means to launder their reputation and/or poor human rights track record. Though it has more recently cited as an issue in football (where national state owned airlines and oil refineries can be seen emblazoned on the shirts of players), it is by no means a new enterprise. The British Empire relied heavily on organised sport as a means of spreading its cultural will through the colonies. Yet I have found myself thinking about it with renewed vigour in recent weeks, as I watch the Israel Start-Up Nation in the 2021 Giro D’Italia. I am of course referring to one issue in particular here, Palestine. Although, given sports long history of being a tool to divert attention from violent colonial occupations it is hardly surprising that these connections are being made. On 8th May, as Israel Start-Up Nation rid
