Washington Post: China and the Olympics

As a May 20 editorial points out, many people believe that allowing China to host the Olympic Games would somehow spur Beijing to more responsible involvement in the community of nations.

However, the same arguments that are being made on behalf of China today could, and were, made on behalf of the National Socialist German government of 1936 and its right to stage an Olympic Games in front of the world. Surely there were people who felt that if the Nazis were accommodated, the more unpleasant aspects of their political agenda (such as the Nuremberg racial laws) would be modified in the face of public opinion. Of course, it didn't happen.

Likewise, there were those who argued that Moscow should not have been given the Olympic platform in 1980. Clearly, hosting the Games did little to alter the behavior of a government that was desperately trying to justify its existence.

The Olympic Games should be kept as far from political manipulation as possible and exalted for what they are -- a showcase of the best of ourselves as members of the brotherhood of mankind. No one nation should be allowed to twist the games into its own political drama.

For this reason, it is in the International Olympic Committee's best interest to bypass the Chinese government and its Olympic bid until meaningful change takes place there.

Grand Ledge, Mich.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A80278-2001May26.html