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The debate over the Beijing Olympics is booming in the United States. Advocates for your case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. The brave point to the history of 41 years ago.
Cross country skier Jessica Diggins was one of the American stars to score at the previous Winter Olympics, with gold in the team sprint. But will it be allowed to join in 2022? Photo: AP
The Beijing Winter Olympics in one year have created a debate in the United States in recent weeks. Loud voices call for some form of boycott.
Can it really happen that the United States, the fourth best nation in the last Winter Olympics, does not show up to the Games?
Two responses from Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki haven’t exactly ended the speculation.
February 3 she said“At the moment, we are not talking about changing our position or our plans when it comes to the Beijing Olympics.”
February 25 she said: “No final decision has been made on this (Olympics), and we are seeking guidance from the US Olympic Committee.”
The US media has interpreted the latest response as the Biden administration holding the door open to boycott.
Accused of genocide
At the center of the conflict is the human rights situation in China. More than a million Uyghurs (ethnic minorities) have been detained in detention camps, according to the BBC.
There are reports of brainwashing, forced labor and rapes in these camps. A report from the US Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy recently concluded that China is violating the United Nations Genocide Convention.
The Chinese authorities have called the accusations “lies of the century, concocted by extreme anti-China forces.”
Just a year before the Beijing Olympics, allegations of genocide hail. Here is the president of the country visiting the ski resort to be used in the championship. Photo: AP
Recognized politicians from both sides
Among those who are against boycott, is the United States Olympic Committee.
“Although we would never have downplayed what is happening in China from a human rights perspective, we do not support a boycott of practitioners,” committee chair Susanne Lyons said recently.
They use what happened in 1980 as an example of horror. Following the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, the United States decided to boycott the Moscow Olympics. Lyons says this ruined athletes who had trained their entire lives.
Well-known politician Ted Cruz agrees.
“It was beyond the athletes and no one else,” he wrote in a comment on foxnews.com.
Prominent politician Ted Cruz calls China a “bully” and believes a boycott will be hidden. Photo: REUTERS
Nikki Haley is among those who disagree. She is a former UN ambassador and a star of the Republican Party. On Twitter, he has written that an Olympic participation will be to “glorify a country that commits genocide.”
– Will think very well
Several key politicians support Haley’s view. If they get their way, it will have major consequences, believes Professor Ørnulf Seippel of the Norwegian Academy of Sports.
– An American boycott of the Beijing Olympics will look very good. It will be much more relevant than a Norwegian boycott, says Seippel.
Norway was number one in medal statistics at the last Winter Olympics, while the United States was number four. An American boycott would have an impact far beyond sports, according to Seippel.
David Owen agrees, is a commentator for the Inside The Games website and has Olympic and sports politics as a special field.
– If there is a widespread boycott of practitioners from Western nations, which I think is highly unlikely, I think China will take it seriously. Then they will probably take steps to create better relations with Russia and the Middle East, Owen writes in an email to Aftenposten.
This is how Nif responds to the boycott
When the United States called for a boycott of the Olympics in 1980, 91 nations followed, including Norway.
US President Jimmy Carter called for a boycott of the 1980 Olympics. The Soviet Union responded by boycotting the Los Angeles Olympics four years later. Photo: AP
The Norwegian Sports Confederation will not say how it will respond to a possible boycott of the United States. But where is the limit to how much Norwegian sports can participate? Berit Kjøll replied this week:
– It is demanding when major sporting events are assigned to a country with a different government system and with values that do not necessarily correspond to ours. We generally believe that participation, cooperation and dialogue are important, more than a boycott, which closes doors and puts us outside, Kjøll said during “open hours” with the press on Tuesday.
A third solution
Recently became one third solution for the United States advanced. Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney wrote a comment in the New York Times titled “The Right Way to Boycott the Olympics.”
There he called for an “economic and diplomatic boycott” of the Olympics. By that he means that American sports fans, as well as athletes’ families, should stay home. And that diplomats and government representatives should not go to the Olympics.
Inside The Games’ David Owen thinks that solution is likely.
But will the NIF support a similar scheme in Norway?
– If the public or authorities do not want to travel, Nif has neither the desire nor the mandate to influence such a decision, says Nif communications manager Finn Aagaard
