From the Qatar World Cup to Beijing Olympics, here’s the inconvenient truth about sporting events

Global sports will always be political and the hypocrisies have been particularly disappointing this year. But it should never get in the way of the beautiful sporting tradition of uniting people around the world

Chee Yik-wai

Published: 1:00am, 21 Dec 2022

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One of the year’s biggest highlights is perhaps how the Beijing Winter Olympics and Qatar World Cup have both inspired and outraged so many. The major sporting events attracted boycott calls and elevated the debate on politics in sports. Particularly disappointing was the hypocrisy displayed by sporting nations.

Take, for a start, the US-led diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Games on human rights grounds. It seemed paradoxical that American athletes were allowed to compete and US officials applied for visas to attend, even if only for “security support”.

Ironically, the United States did the opposite for the Qatar World Cup, with known football fan Secretary of State Antony Blinken attending a game there. He commended Qatar’s labour rights progress, despite claims of up to 6,500 foreign worker deaths in building World Cup infrastructure and a poll suggesting almost six out of 10 US football fans supported a boycott.

Quite a stark contrast from France’s President Emmanuel Macron, who rejected the politicising of sports and also travelled to Qatar for the World Cup.

China’s warning that nations joining the US diplomatic boycott would “pay a price” was also hypocritical. China is no stranger to boycotting the Olympics itself, having been, ironically, the only Communist country to heed US calls to boycott the 1980 Moscow Games in protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

The greater irony? Russia’s President Vladimir Putin was the first world leader to confirm his attendance at the Beijing Games, and even declared a “no limits” partnership between the two countries. The move, just days before the disastrous Ukraine war, became a public relations disaster for the Chinese host.

Between 1952 and 1980, China boycotted the Olympics due to Taiwan’s presence as the Republic of China. Almost 40 years later, China’s claim to defend the Olympic spirit from politics sounds disingenuous at best, especially as China has also politicised international sports over domestic issues.

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Would China boycott major international sporting events if host countries make disappointing decisions on the Taiwan issue? Food for thought, perhaps.

Qatar’s reaction to criticism over migrant worker deaths in the lead up to the World Cup was initially patronising. After immense pressure from global media, its top World Cup official finally admitted that “between 400 and 500” migrant worker deaths had occurred and that “one death is a death too many”.

Qatar’s recently abolished kafala system – which tied workers’ visas to their jobs and set a minimum wage of 1,000 riyals (US$275) a month – was widely thought to be the cause of appalling abuses of worker rights. That admission came with little to no compensation for many of the dead workers’ families living in abject poverty back home despite Qatar’s massive wealth.

Another irony perhaps, was that it was mostly the West questioning Qatar instead of the victims’ own countries, which can come across as holier-than-thou Western “hypocrisy”, as Fifa president Gianni Infantino defiantly claimed. Criticism of Qatar’s lack of LGBTQ tolerance was also less than effective when many countries hold a similar stance.

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Fifa even had to forbid players from wearing the “One Love” armband in solidarity. Qatar ended up making reasonable compromises in assuring the world that no LGBTQ visitors would be persecuted during the event.

Criticism of Qatar’s no-alcohol policy during the World Cup games was also hypocritical and disrespectful, as if drinking is essential to the spectator experience. Ultimately, it is naively unrealistic to think a sporting event could fundamentally change Qatar, or any country, just because others do things differently.

Calls to boycott Qatar World Cup by West is ‘hypocritical and shameful’

And of course, major sporting authorities are constantly criticised for prioritising profit over human rights concerns. Under immense public pressure, the International Olympic Committee has finally caved in to human rights demands, often interpreted from a Western perspective.

In 2017, it committed to comply with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, effective from 2024 Olympic Games’ hosting contracts. The impact of this and technical implementations would be closely observed by other major sports organisations, like Fifa, before they take a stance.

Controversies aside, the Beijing and Qatar games have also created inspiring stories such as Lionel Messi lifting the World Cup on his last outing and being feted as the greatest footballer of all time. Yet for the hosts, these events are often far from financially profitable, although they can confer strong political and social benefits.

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For Beijing, being the world’s first dual Olympic City – in hosting both the summer and winter games – despite facing pandemic challenges reinforces the Communist Party’s exceptionalism. It can also be tremendous help in national efforts to instil healthier lifestyles for the young, including in capitalising on its Olympic success by recruiting former Olympians.

For Qatar, the estimated US$220 billion World Cup investment has given Qataris a new city and its first metro system. More importantly, its World Cup story helps foster a stronger national identity and pride in a historically divided society.

The inconvenient truth is that global sports will always be political as it involves competition between nations and national pride. The controversies around the Beijing Winter Games and Qatar World Cup have pushed viewership and engagements to highs not because most people love the hosts but because of global passion for the sports.

Let’s hope that hypocrisy never gets in the way of the beautiful sporting tradition of uniting people around the world.

Chee Yik-wai is a Malaysia-based intercultural specialist and the co-founder of Crowdsukan focusing on sport diplomacy for peace and development