AN IRANIAN swimmer may be expelled from the Games if it is found his sudden withdrawal from the 100-metres breaststroke heats was a political statement.

Mohammad Alirezaei was drawn in lane one and the Israeli Tom Be'eri in lane seven of the heat, which the Iranian did not start. Be'eri finished fourth.

Earlier, Iran had said that because there was "no face-to-face situation" in swimming, there would be no problem with its swimmer competing. "Alirezaei swims in lane one and the representative of the Zionist regime in lane seven, so they will not face each other," the secretary of Iran's Olympic committee, Ali Kafashian, said before the race.

Iranian officials have given no explanation for the no-show.

A spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee spokeswoman, Giselle Davies, said: "The participation of the Olympic Games from athletes to athletes is under the spirit of respect and fair play so, should it be confirmed that there was someone refusing on this basis, this is something that the IOC will take seriously."

Israel and Iran are in conflict over religion and nuclear weapons. The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has said Israel should be "wiped out from the map" but his Government's sports arm said before the Games there would be no boycott against Israeli athletes.

"This isn't the first time this has happened and it doesn't surprise me any more," said the general secretary of the Olympic Committee of Israel, Efraim Zinger.