A small question of general interest to begin this editorial on the Beijing Games: what is the “vision” of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)?
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
If you don’t know, you’ll have a hard time guessing. Because the answer is “building a better world through sport”.
Do not laugh.
It’s even written at the very top of the website of this “keeper of the Olympic Games”.
Noble vision… but IOC officials should buy glasses.
They no longer see clearly.
As the Beijing Games come to an end, who can seriously claim that the event will have served, in any way, to build a better world?
The worm was in the apple, you will say.
In effect.
The original sin was the green light given by the IOC to China to organize the Games.
Some have suggested in recent years to hold them elsewhere, but it was too late.
And the impact of a diplomatic boycott of Canada and some of its allies, as we knew, would be very limited.
This is how the whole world has come to condone China’s disregard for human rights.
A better world ?
Talk to the people of Hong Kong, whose freedoms have been curtailed by Beijing over the past two years. Or talk to the Uyghur minority in China, whose fate is even less enviable.
The Chinese regime could have sought, as when it was granted the Games in 2008, to water down its wine.
A better world ?
Rather the opposite has happened. From the opening of the 2022 Games, by welcoming Russian President Vladimir Putin as a guest of honor, China decided to taunt the Western world.
Talk to Ukrainians who live in fear, while Vladimir Putin, received as a hero in Beijing, massed more than 150,000 soldiers around their country.
PHOTO WANG ZHAO, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, attending the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games on February 4
Still on the subject of Russia, the Beijing Games also allowed us to measure the nonchalance of the IOC regarding the fight against doping.
The case of barely 15-year-old skater Kamila Valieva, who cracked under pressure on Thursday while at the heart of a doping case, is tragic. But he also questions previous decisions made by the IOC regarding Russian athletes, in connection with Moscow’s doping programme.
A better world ?
Don’t tell former tennis champion Peng Shuai…because she won’t tell you.
However, we must talk about it, because in this case too, the IOC has discredited itself even more.
Its president, Thomas Bach, met with the athlete, who last year accused a senior Chinese leader of raping her. The IOC’s message was clear: move on, there’s nothing left to see. An interview was even offered to the French daily The Teamallowing the athlete to deny the whole affair.
The Chinese regime was able to save face. The IOC has lost its own.
A better world ?
Yes, for the Chinese president.
The demonstration of power by the Chinese regime – which was able to tame both Westerners and the COVID-19 virus during the Games – will certainly allow Xi Jinping to strengthen his (iron) grip on the country.
The IOC continues to rely on athlete performance to quell controversy and cynicism about the Games.
Our athletes gave us strong emotions, as usual. They allowed us to witness moments of grace. The magic was there.
We thank them.
But this time, for reasons beyond the performance of the athletes, the masks fell off, the varnish cracked and the party was ruined.
It may not be far off, the tipping point.
The one where the image of the Games will have been so tarnished that the public will turn its back on them, little by little. And the athletes would be the first losers.
All those who are directly or indirectly involved in the organization of this high mass would do well to realize this quickly.