Politics and the Olympics are an ugly fact of life

Politics and the Olympics are an ugly fact of life

The Olympic Games present a opportunity for athletes from around the world to compete at the highest levels. The spirit of the Olympics is above politics, but the Olympics themselves are rife with it.

Up until early this month, President Bush hadn’t confirmed that he would be attending the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Beijing Aug. 8. There had been calls from both liberals and conservatives for him to not attend the opening because of China’s human rights record at home, in Tibet and in its support for repressive regimes in Africa.

Germany’s Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper are not attending the Olympics. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will attend only the closing ceremony. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who originally said he wouldn’t attend unless there was progress between China and Tibetan dissidents, has said he will be at the opening ceremonies — even though the state-run media has suggested he should receive a cold shoulder.

The very fact that China is hosting the Olympics is hugely political. It fought to be the 2008 host because it saw the Olympic Games as way of showing itself as a world leader, regardless of what human rights critics might say about its policies at home or abroad. When the International Olympics Committee disregarded the voices of those critics and gave the Games to China seven years ago, it was a coup.

Some athletes lose

Now, on the eve of the 2008 games that same IOC has issued a decision of much smaller import, but one that demonstrates its bizarre politics — and one that must have President Bush scratching his head.

The IOC has barred Iraqi athletes from competing in the games because without asking IOC permission, the Iraq government purged its National Olympic Committee of the last members put on the committee by Saddam Hussein.

In doing so, the IOC, which never had a problem with Saddam Hussein’s Olympic committee, is not only damaging Iraq’s international reputation, it is punishing seven athletes who trained for and were prepared to compete in the Olympics. The IOC’s position is that five of those athletes will definitely not compete because roster deadlines have now passed; there are negotiations today in Lausanne, Switzerland, to preserve two Olympic slots for Iraqi track and field events.

In a battle of wills between IOC bureaucrats and the new government in Baghdad, the athletes are the casualties.

On Aug. 8, President Bush will stand in a Beijing stadium while athletes from around the world parade in front of him. He will be justifiably proud when the huge contingent of American athletes march by. But the absence of those Iraqi athletes will certainly give him reason to question his recent contention that the Olympics transcends politics.