Spain’s national broadcaster, RTVE, has apologised after its commentators failed to introduce an Israeli runner as they announced the line-up ahead of a men's 400m hurdles race at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham.
Israel’s Omri Shiff was waiting at block five at the start line for the qualifying heat as the commentators introduced each athlete in turn.
When his turn came, however, they continued to talk about the Slovakian runner on block six, before promptly moving on to the Hungarian on block four.
The Spanish government is an outspoken critic of Israel and the country has regularly made headlines in recent years for extreme antisemitic or antizionist activism.
Spanish 🇪🇸 commentator refuses to introduce Israeli 🇮🇱 athlete.
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) August 13, 2026
RTVE commentators had no issue introducing the athletes at the European Athletics Championship, until it was Omri Shiff's turn.
Trying to deal their own sort of punishment, the commentators spoke on a different… pic.twitter.com/x4ntgbo0cj
RTVE, which is broadcasting the championships this week in Birmingham, told the JC: “We sincerely regret not having named all the athletes who appeared on screen during the broadcasts on Teledeporte [sports channel], as happened in the case of the Israeli athlete Omar Shiff.
“This situation was exclusively due to the complexity of the long athletics sessions and the dynamics of live broadcasting – such as trackside commentary or production requirements – and was in no way related to political, ideological or religious reasons.
“Our commitment is to give visibility to every participant, and we work to achieve this in every broadcast. We reiterate our apology to the athlete affected.”
The commentator themselves echoed this statement from RTVE.
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