Dubai Tennis Championship Has Eerie Resemblance to Hitler's Olympics

This year's Barclays Dubai Women's Tennis Championship has an eerie resemblance to the controversial 1936 Olympics—the Games where Germany and Hitler were upstaged by American Jesse Owens, a man of "an inferior race" according to the chancellor.

The Dubai Championship is a an example of how a fascist state is allowed to use its influence to alter the course of international athletics by not allowing Israeli tennis sensation Shahar Peer to participate in the event.

This championship will ultimately be remembered for who did not attend rather than who did and is a striking reminder of the effect Nazi Germany had on the 1936 Olympics held in Berlin.

It was during the 1936 Olympics that Hitler tried to advance his theory of racial supremacy and only allowed members of the Aryan race to compete for Germany.  Gretel Bergmann, despite holding the world record for the high jump, was excluded from the games because she was a German Jew.

There was another controversy to these Games that involved Avery Brundage, the president of the American Olympic Committee who, much like WTA chief Larry Scott, rejected a boycott based on exclusionary practices.

Brundage pulled Sam Stoller and Marty Glickman—the only two Jews on the USA team—out of the 4x100 relay at the last minute.  This still leads to speculation that Brundage did not want to embarrass Hitler by having two Jews win gold medals.

In 1941, it was revealed that Brundage's construction company was awarded the contract to build the German embassy in Washington and, as late as 1971, he still claimed that "The Berlin Games were the finest in modern history."

Up until now, we have heard rumblings from Scott and the women of the WTA about their concern of the United Arab Emirates to not let Peer enter the country and play in this event.  So far, nothing has been done to stop this discriminatory policy and the tournament has concluded its early rounds.

It was Hitler who once said, "Promises are like pie crust; they are made to be broken" and by condoning the actions of the UAE, The Sony Ericsson Women's Tennis Association Tour has broken its noblest promise...No Discrimination in Tennis!