The Winter Olympic games are underway in Beijing, China, six months after the Summer Games ended belatedly in Tokyo, Japan. Beijing is hosting its second Olympics this century (the last in 2008), and is now the first city to have hosted both versions.
The COVID-19 virus, which has since mutated from variant to variant and continues to sicken and kill millions of people around the world, is again affecting the conduct of these Olympics. Just like in Tokyo, the athletes who compete here will face venues with no spectators save for invited guests, extensive testing and social distancing. Those who violate the rules are likely to remain guests of China until long after these Games are over.
China being China, not only will the government be cracking down on COVID, but also on foreign and domestic journalists and dissidents who don't stick to the script when it comes to human rights abuses, uprisings in Hong Kong and other sensitive topics. The United States is leading a diplomatic boycott of these Games for those reasons--that is, send the athletes but not government officials, But since so much of the world's economy revolves around China, you can't afford to piss them off too much.
As athletes from Russia are competing under the name ROC (Russian Olympic Committee) as punishment for alleged doping violations, President Vladimir Putin is risking a world war with a possible invasion of Ukraine. Adding to the pressure is President Joe Biden's decision to send American troops near the Ukrainian border as an attempt to get Putin to back off. Oh, and both sides still have enough nuclear missiles to blow each other up.
The National Hockey League, who you would think had wanted to come to China for the exposure that country could provide just like other North American sports leagues have, has once again begged off sending its players to the Olympics. Because they've had problems scheduling games and keeping rosters together due to COVID, as well as balking at China's restrictions, the NHL decided to use its Olympic break on rescheduled games just to get its season back on track. Which leaves the men's hockey competition with rosters full of whoever they could get, and possibly affect the quality of play.
As you watch skiiers, figure skaters, speed skaters, curlers and others on whatever video device you're watching from, keep in mind that the announcers calling the action is in a studio half a world away. NBC, which has held the American TV rights to the Olympics since forever (1988, actually), moved most of its announcing staff to its sports headquarters in Connecticut to call games off monitors because of China's COVID policies. They also might be walking a tightrope when it comes to honest appraisals of how China and the International Olympic Committee is behaving during these Games, to put it mildly.
The IOC has had a longer history of cozying up to dictators and oppressive governments than a certain former (and future?) President of the United States. Germany 1936. Russia 1980 and 2014. China 2008 and 2022. Promoting international brotherhood (or whatever the term is now) through sports has given way to the universal language of money, and we are the poorer for it. The next few Olympiads will be held in what are now considered democracies: France in 2024, Italy in '26, the United States in '28, and Australia in '32.
Let's all see what happens in China for the next few weeks, whether they're behaving themselves or if they're just being China.
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