Sigi's tips: A boycott that spares sport

Most people want to go. To China, to Beijing in February 2022. Especially everyone who has hopes of winning Olympic precious metal. After all, for most people the games are the planned highlight of their careers. And it is actually still the case that an Olympic victory can change a life. I will never forget a sentence from the German slalom skier Frank Wörndl. The 1987 world champion then lost to the Italian Alberto Tomba at the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary by six hundredths of a second. He was still leading after the first round. So he said, “If I had won, my life would have been completely different.” So he returned home a loser. Not even the silver medal exuded shine or even opened doors for him that would have opened on their own with a gold medal. So, even after painful experiences in the past in which sport was abused as a means of political pressure, no one wants to deny the active people their chance again. A boycott of Beijing 2022 is therefore not up for debate. In no country, by the way, which is why I don't think the formulation of the political boycott is very happy. It's just that it affects visitors who are by no means necessary to hold the Olympic Games. The USA, Great Britain, Australia or New Zealand will not send diplomatic representatives to the games in China. The EU is also boycotting The European Parliament has also spoken out in favor of such a step, although the decision on this obviously lies with the countries. The seats in the VIP stand next to Chinese President Xi Jinping and International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach will remain fairly empty. It is clear that Bach must be present. All other representatives of the participating countries are by no means obliged to attend. It is completely sufficient if their sports officials travel to China. Of course, this is a break with the past, because politicians always like to bask under the Olympic rings. They were always pleasant business trips and of course there was also some advertising on our own behalf for the electorate at home. When the nations marched in at the opening ceremony, the cameras always looked for their respective political representatives. Sometimes he was even of royal blood, depending on the form of government of course, because the constitutional monarchy still exists. It's no longer necessary now. China is mad as hell China fumes and acts like a small child whose toy has been taken away. “They will pay the price for their wrongdoing,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. China has instrumentalized the Olympic Games by using gigantism to build new sports facilities to please the IOC as a thank you for awarding the 2022 Winter Games, making Beijing the first city to have previously hosted the Summer Games. The world should see how committed you are to the Olympic movement. But fortunately the world is not yet completely blind. China is destroying the Uyghur people, depriving the people of Hong Kong of their freedom and creating a climate of fear and terror in Tibet. This should be covered up with the construction of a new bobsleigh and toboggan run, a gigantic ski jumping facility or new ski slopes and ice rinks. But the world is no longer playing along like it was a few years ago, when Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea shortly after the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games in Sochi. The preparation for this was underway while all attention was focused on the sport. Corona is also to blame for the new image of China Unfortunately, it is thanks to the pandemic that the relationship of many countries with China has changed massively. The previous, especially economic, dependence due to the large sales market is being reconsidered. You want to become more independent again, even more independent. The world has woken up, also because the giant China is openly trying to influence this world in its favor. The 2022 Olympic Games should be a huge diversionary tactic to continue violating human rights at home. This doesn't work anymore. The absence of many political and even high-ranking elected officials does not come at the expense of sport. Everyone fighting for medals will find good conditions for doing so. This inevitably brings a new modesty to the Olympic rings. This can only help the Olympic movement, after it had alienated many potential candidates in the past with its immense demands, so that only the autocratic states of Kazakhstan and China were left in the 2022 election, which is why we are already focusing on them Olympic Games in Italy in just over four years.

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Sigi's tips: A boycott that spares sport

At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, the VIP stands will remain fairly empty. Most political representatives from democratic states will not come. Nevertheless, our columnist Sigi Heinrich is sure that the Olympians will find good conditions. And that's what it's all about, after all.

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