Olympic boycott saber rattling

It is always astonishing how monstrously naive politicians always think that a boycott can bring about or even force change. At the moment, the USA is once again trying to find partners so that it can consider an Olympic boycott for the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.

It is primarily Republican politicians who are now starting to rattle the saber. They cite human rights violations by the Chinese authorities in Xinjang as the reason. According to human rights organizations, at least a million Uyghurs and other members of Muslim minorities are locked up in detention camps in the northwestern Chinese province. There they are reportedly forced to give up their religion, culture and language and are sometimes mistreated. Beijing rejects the allegations and speaks of training and work programs intended to combat extremism in the region. Bach was himself a victim of the boycott So an Olympic boycott should change that? A look into the past is enough to see that a boycott has never had the desired effect. On the contrary, it is a harmless and blunt sword that only brings disadvantages to those who have worked for years to be able to take part in the Olympic Games: the athletes. Thomas Bach is now the President of the IOC. © APA/afp / FABRICE COFFRINI

Thomas Bach, recently confirmed for a second term as President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), was deeply affected by the 1980 boycott in Moscow. Because of the invasion of Soviet troops in Afghanistan, the USA, Germany and 63 other Western countries stayed away from the games. However, 16 western countries, led by Great Britain and Italy, did not take part. Bach, like all other athletes, felt like a political pawn. The then German Chancellor even saw world peace at risk if Germany took part in the games in Moscow. As far as I know, Bach, who was a committed athlete spokesman at the time, never spoke to Helmut Schmidt again afterwards. Los Angeles follows Moscow One boycott led to the other. Four years later, the Soviet Union and 14 other Eastern Bloc states were missing from Los Angeles, with the exception of Romania and non-aligned Yugoslavia. These measures, all of which were decided by governments over the heads of the sports organizations in their country, threatened to end the Games. There was another boycott in 1988. North Korea stayed at home in Seoul because it was not involved as a co-organizer of the games in South Korea. Since the games in Barcelona in 1992 everything has remained quiet. Until now.

Once again a few politicians, mainly in the USA, think they can bring China to its knees with a boycott. They should first turn their attention to human rights issues. The main problem, however, is the fact that this poison of boycott could spread because, at first glance, it appears to be an easy means of creating pressure. It only temporarily puts a strain on the relationship between states, but does not even begin to shake the economic ties.

However, the IOC is not entirely innocent of the situation, because at the time when the election for 2022 was on the agenda, they only had two candidates to choose from, Almaty (Kazakhstan) and Beijing, in which freedom of the press and human rights were demonstrably of secondary importance are. Neither should have been allowed in the first place. St. Moritz, Oslo, Stockholm and Munich, all great candidates, had previously given the IOC rejections that could have been prevented. With any of these cities, the topic of boycott would not even have come up.

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Olympic boycott saber rattling

US politicians are discussing a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. In his new article, SportNews columnist Sigi Heinrich doubts the usefulness of such an action. He says: “One look at the past is enough to see that a boycott has never had the desired effect.”

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