The logo for the London 2012 Olympics has been criticized repeatedly since its release in June, 2007, but always because of its design. It has been called everything from "bloody crap" to worse and most reaction seemed to lean charitably towards saying that it was a reminder of the 80s, not that this was necessarily a good thing mind you.
However, for all the vitriol expended toward the design, it took the lunatics running the asylum that is the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to find Jews running around under the logo. The secretary-general of the Iranian Olympic Committee sent a letter to the IOC threatening to boycott the London Games as the logo resembles the word "Zion", condemns the logo as racist and calls on all Muslims to join the protest.
"There is no doubt that negligence of the issue from your side may affect the presence of some countries in the games, especially Iran which abides by commitment to the values and principles," the letter said. That is rather rich coming from a country that for three decades refused to compete against any athletes from Israel.
If you look at the logo from the left bottom and sort of counter-clockwise, you might make out "Izzo" which could make some Big Ten fans unhappy, but getting to "Zion" is a real stretch.
The IOC, predictably, dismissed the complaint: "Our response is as follows: The London 2012 logo represents the figure 2012, nothing else."
