Human rights? China won that Winter Olympics battle. Almost.

“It is extremely irresponsible," van der Poel said, ”to give it to a country that violates human rights as clearly as the Chinese regime does.”

Nice to hear a handul of athletes - like the Swede van der Poel and the Englishman Kenworthy - still have some decency and the guts to speak out. Most of the olympians are self-centred, unlikable jerks who do not live in the real world nor deserve respect.

the self-proclaimed "loud and obnoxious” British skier also proved that...

Well, he was right about one thing at least. But yes, in a surprise to nobody with sense, China did not detain anyone as much as some here expected they would.

Back in Sweden with his two gold medals in speedskating, Nils van der Poel told the Aftonbladet newspaper that although he had “a very nice experience behind the scenes,” hosting the Games in China was “terrible.”

This one makes even less sense. By his own admission he had a very nice experience but China hosting the Olympics is terrible because....why? He almost got there with firsthand evidence, but just couldn't get over "China bad!".

There's always going to be a couple people so bought in to the narrative that they cannot get over it, but most of the athletes seemed to have glowing reviews at stark contrast with the dystopian narrative that was being spun leading up to the games and it seems a majority of them realized that pretty quickly.

These games will go down in history like the 1936 games..

Poor Gus got suckered into believing the anti-China BS and made a fool of himself.

Gambare Nippon:

and the Englishman Kenworthy

Oh, so he's English now? Before, didn't he represent the country he emigrated to at the age of 2...............America? Oh dear, traitor???!!!!

I'd like to ask this Englishman or American or whatever nationality he'll have tomorrow, out of China, UK and USA, in which country are you MUCH more likely to get punched in the face, spat upon, verbally abused or even murdered just because you're gay? Human rights, you say? A shame he didn't come out much younger.

He drew parallels with the 1936 Summer Olympics in Nazi Germany and Russia hosting the Sochi Olympics before seizing control of the Crimean peninsula in 2014.

This is an absolute insult to those who did suffer at the hands of the Nazis. We saw all those people from the concentration camps all skinny and half dead and those who survived told their stories. What is coming out of Xinjiang? Six crisis actors (who suddenly have the latest laptops and houses) and absolutely NO refugee crisis at the Xinjiang-Kazakh border. But of course, Gus Kenworthy saw the camps so he knows.

Gus, brave? More like jumping on the bandwagon AFTER leaving China. If he had any morals and truly believed something dark was happening in China, then he should have boycotted the event and stayed away. Either he has no morals, or he knows it all lies. Anyway, judging from his results it was time wasted.

Gus, brave? More like jumping on the bandwagon AFTER leaving China.

Kenworthy was in China when he made these comments.

Please read the articles.

Anyway, judging from his results it was time wasted.

He already has an Olympic Silver medal. Just finished in the best 8 in the world.

And you?

Awarding the games to a totalitarian one party dictatorship with a record of genocide, suppression of human rights and political, cultural and religious oppression was a mistake though one that no one should be surprised at given the self serving corruption evinced by the IOC.

The sort of pressure obviously brought to bear on individual athletes, most shockingly not just by the Chinese authorities but by their own teams and coaches has obviously had the effect China wanted but it has also displayed to the whole world the total lack of morality and courage of these self obsessed prima donnas.

Greatest respect to this sole athlete, I don’t give a monkeys for the petty consideration of where he was born or which country he represented, he had the balls and moral fortitude to speak the truth from within the evil dictatorship while the rest of the cowards scurried around with their tails between their legs.

If Xinjiang is such a wonderful place where the Uiyghur people live such happy unfettered lives as someone is claiming, how come the free democratic countries of the world have been able to build up such an accurate picture of the actual torment of their existence there, where they are detained in camps against their will for years in shocking conditions for supposed 're-education, where thousands of women have suffered enforced irreversible sterilisation procedures, where the lettering and other images of their places of worship have all been removed (lending an impression of invisibility) - this is vastly different to the picture as described by the commenter.

If everything is perfect there, why do the Chinese authorities always deny access to TV crews from National Geographic or BBC to make their documentary-programmes there ?

Even Amnesty International has eye-witness accounts from hundreds of people who have been lucky enough to escape the uncivilised repression at which the CCP are the masters.

Time to remove the blinkers, and face up to one aspect of the dreadful reality of life in China today, although there are many other terrible issues there also.

Gambare Nippon:

And you?

Me? I don't believe in western MSM lies. I'm not the one trying to put Uighurs out of jobs and hoping for them to go back to poverty.

OK so he said it in China.................and he wasn't hauled away????? Anyway, he's back home in US or is it UK, someone remind me. I hope he's careful - a lot of violent homophobic assaults in both those countries.

Martimurano:

An example of how you debunk these lies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma6pWGkctho

@Martimurano

how come the free democratic countries of the world have been able to build up such an accurate picture of the actual torment of their existence there

Accurate how? Surely the collective intelligence agencies of the western world have some actual evidence of the torment of their existence? No? Huh.

If everything is perfect there, why do the Chinese authorities always deny access to TV crews from National Geographic or BBC to make their documentary-programmes there ?

Because a sovereign nation doesn't want agencies that have shown an existing bias to make propaganda videos on their soil? They already invited the UN in, does it only count if the report agrees with the genocide narrative? Imagine if the Global Times wanted to film a documentary about the treatment of prisoners in the US. Even though we know that is actually happening, the US would absolutely refuse.

Even Amnesty International has eye-witness accounts from hundreds of people who have been lucky enough to escape the uncivilised repression at which the CCP are the masters.

It is hundreds now? That seems to have changed as rapidly as the eye-witness accounts. Do you mean accounts like Pang and Ziyawudun, who have changed their stories a dozen times? Or worse, the report by Zens? Maybe the reddit AMA with a survivor who had eye-witness accounts? Just want to be clear which claim you were going with.