'Beijing Games must go on' spiel grows weaker by the day

In just the past 10 days or so, athletes were threatened by the organizing committee with “certain punishments” for saying or doing anything that would offend their Chinese hosts, which experience suggests could be ... literally anything. Several delegations urged anyone headed to Beijing to take “burner” phones instead of their personal devices because of concerns over government spying. Ticket sales to events were canceled, meaning the few spectators the organizing committee allows to attend will be there by invitation only. Even that modest attendance goal won’t be easy in a nation where more than 20 million were under some form of lockdown as China tries to quell a series of COVID-19 outbreaks.

This is just crazy. Ban those infernal games.

The Olympic Games are not supposed to be about anything other than athletics, and pride; pride for the host nation, pride for the winning athletes, and pride for the nations sending the athletes. This is not to say that there is no injustice in the world, but that it is easy to forget what the games are supposed to be about.

The article seems to suggest that athletes themselves may be harassed by Chinese officials. If that happens, it would certainly violate the spirit of the games, but let's not condemn China for something it has not yet done.

@1glenn - pride is a selfish and dangerous thing.

Athletics are a way to demonstrate pride peacefully, if not exactly constructively.

With this CoVid still raging, it's crazy to even think about something like an Olympics.

The Olympic Charter runs 112 pages and reads like something Gwyneth Paltrow would have written if she were in charge of the Games instead of Goop.

“The goal of Olympism,” the charter reads, “is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.”

Beautiful, sounds like something that Suga could have written...(#sarcasm)

Or, as the Olympic charter frames it: “Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example, social responsibility and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.”

There will be no shortage of glorious sports moments on the stage in Beijing. If you want them served up with a side of “social responsibility” and “respect,” you'll probably want to find something else to watch on TV for those two weeks.

Well, if you want them games served up with a side of that "universal fundamental ethical principles"-thingamabob, you would cancel and bury them altogether once and for all, as it goes beyond a China or Russia-issue to question the games and the IOC altogether.