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Are we going to the Winter Olympics?

Should American athletes attend the Winter Olympics in China?

  • 1. Should we just go?

    Votes: 4 80.0%
  • 2. Should we stay home because of the question about the whereabouts of the Chinese Tennis Player?

    Votes: 1 20.0%
  • 3. Should we stay home because of China's not cooperating on the Covid Virus investigation?

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 4. Stay home because of the possibility that athletes could contract Covid and bring cases home.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 5. Should we host a Winter Games in the U.S. in one of several Olympic Venues in the U.S.?

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    5

Integrityrespec

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1. Should we just go?
2. Should we stay home because of the question about the whereabouts of the Chinese Tennis Player?
3. Should we stay home because of China's stance on not cooperating on the Covid Virus investigation and vaccine creation?
4. Should we stay home because of the possibility that athletes could contract Covid and bring cases home to the U.S.?
5. Should we host a Winter Games in the U.S. in one of several Olympic Venues that have previously been constructed and used in the U.S.
 
We ski and had a relative on an Olympic development team for another popular winter sport and we usually follow the Olympics religiously. I'm having a hard time mustering up enthusiasm for this one. I don't know why.
 
Any of those reasons could be valid. I share JMB's lack of enthusiasm. I guess there are just too many other concerns going on right now.
 
Well, duh!

The United States of America (and all decent human beings) should decline to attend the Chinese Olympics.

Not only because of COVID but because of China's threats against Taiwan, for its murder of Hong Kong's democracy, and its concentration camps for the Uighurs.

Of course, no American administration would have the guts to do so.

Everyone wants to kowtow to China.

(President Carter is owed our thanks for having boycotted the Russian Olympics.)
 
I wasn't sure if this thread was bound for a new thread, but I foiund this one, so here it is. From Munich 1972 to Beijing 2022 - must the Olympic Games always go on? Moral repugnance dominates the coverage for the beginning of the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, People's Republic of China. See In I.O.C.’s ‘Quiet Diplomacy,’ Critics See Whitewash of China’s Actions - The handling of the Peng Shuai case raised new questions about the I.O.C.’s relationship with China. One Olympic official called its actions ‘discreet.’ Critics called it collaboration (link to article). Excerpt:
NY Times said:
The International Olympic Committee was under siege. Peng Shuai, a three-time Olympian from China, had not been heard from for weeks after making sexual abuse allegations against a senior political official, a man who had played a central role in preparations for the coming Winter Games in Beijing. Initially silent on the disappearance of Peng, a women’s tennis star, Olympic officials were now facing a growing global chorus of concern. The WTA Tour, through its chief executive, was demanding answers and an investigation. Fellow tennis stars like Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka — but also human rights groups, politicians and everyday fans — were using social media to ask #WhereIsPengShuai? Media organizations were flooding the internet with news coverage. Cornered by the criticism, the I.O.C. finally responded. This, Olympic officials insisted, was a time not for public statements but for “quiet diplomacy.”
This, sadly, is nothing new. In 1972, eleven Israeli athletes were massacred by Black September, a division of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The games went on. Here are two excerpts of New York Times coverage at the time:
NY Times said:
Munich, 1972 (link): The bodies of the eleven Israeli athletes and coaches killed by Arab terrorists were still unburied when the games resumed yesterday.In the late nineteen‐thirties Munich became the world symbol of appeasement, the city where Czechoslovakia was sacrificed to Hitler's greed. Now Munich threatens to become a symbol of callousness that is utterly repugnant to the Olympic ideal. For millions all over the world, this indecent haste on the part of the International Olympic Committee to go back to fun and games is unacceptable.
Avery Brundage in NY Times said:
Again the Sandbox (link)“We have only the strength of a great ideal. I am ,sure the public will agree that we cannot allow a handful terrorists to destroy this nucleus of international cooperation and goodwill we have in the Olympic movement. The Games must go on and we must continue our efforts keep them clean, pure and honest, and try to extend the sportsmanship of the athletic field into other areas.”
No question about it; these are horrific situations. The world must not knuckle under to terrorist and totalitarian urges to normalize themselves.
 
We should go

Our athletes have worked too hard to simply be told "Sorry. You gotta stay home because China is currently being the world's biggest boogersnot.".

Obviously they should be warned to leave all non-essential tech toys (cell phones, laptops iPads etc) at home so they don't catch spyware from any internet connections in China. Plus be educated on their rights as foreign travelers and what not to do to offend the iron-fisted dictatorship.
 
I think a boycott is unfair to the athletes who have trained hard for this. Many of them will only get one shot. Don't destroy their dream.

However, I do agree that much more pressure needs to be placed on these large international sports governing bodies to send a message to oppressive countries that they will not be considered for hosting. This includes the IOC, FIFA, FIA, F1, and any other sport of that caliber.

But, the cynical side of me knows.....money has no morality. So, as we have seen, Olympics can be bought. World Cup can be bought. And on and on and on..
 
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