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Sunday, Jul 5, 2009
IOC president Rogge's pretense that the Olympics aren't political has him defending China as it cracks down on freedoms.
By King Kaufman
Read more: Sports, Olympics, China, Human Rights, Tibet, King Kaufman, 2008 Olympics, Sports Daily
March 25, 2008 | International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said in an Associated Press interview Monday that he's engaged in "what I call 'silent diplomacy'" -- by which he seemed to mean back-channel discussions -- with Chinese authorities about Tibet and other human-rights issues. But Rogge insisted that the IOC can't interfere in the host nation's internal affairs.
"We are not a political body, we are not an NGO," Rogge said, reiterating a long-held position, "but it is our responsibility to make sure the athletes get the best possible games which they deserve."
Human-rights protesters have long said they would use the Olympics, scheduled for August in Beijing, as a focal point for their protests of abuses by China.
In response to the unrest, China, as part of an overall crackdown, has announced that international broadcasters would be banned from showing Tiananmen Square during the Olympics. The Chinese have also closed the Tibet side of Mount Everest to climbers to quash possible protests.
There's some sense in Rogge's position. The Olympics are a sporting event designed to bring athletes of the world together in peaceful -- and, these days, lucrative -- competition. It's proper to try to keep them separate from political questions, to not use them as a hammer to further a political agenda.
Most of the world can get behind the agenda of improved human rights in China or anywhere else, but what will the next agenda be? And who will be pushing it? It doesn't take a lot of imagination to envision the Olympics themselves held hostage to the platform of whatever political faction is able to gain control of the IOC. And if the IOC is actively involving itself in politics, more political factions will be vying for control.
But for all that, Rogge's position is disingenuous.
The International Olympic Committee might not see itself as a political body, but it can't avoid political decisions. It made one in 2001 when it awarded the 2008 Games to Beijing. Rogge has talked ever since about how the Olympics would shine a spotlight on China and force it to improve its human-rights record.
