Opinion | Beijing Winter Olympics: let athletes do their talking by making magic moments, not embroiled in boycotts

Name: Will China face a massive boycott over the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics?
Uploaded: 2021-04-10T01:45:16.000Z
Duration: 3 min 26 s
Description: Will China face a massive boycott over the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics?

From Jesse Owens in Nazi Germany in 1936 to the Black Power salute in 1968, to the “Miracle on Ice” in 1980, sport and politics make for historical memories

Depriving athletes the chance to compete next year at the Winter Olympics would rob them of chance to put politics aside, or bring them into the fray on their own accord

Reading Time:4 minutes

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Does the Beijing Winter Olympic face an international boycott, and will athletes’ legacies be affected? Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

Patrick Blennerhassett

Published: 9:45am, 10 Apr 2021Updated: 9:45am, 10 Apr 2021

The 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin stand as a poignant moment in history. The Nazi regime had taken control of Germany and the world was on the brink of war.

The Games will be remembered for American Jesse Owens’ remarkable four golds in track and field, arguably the greatest sporting moment of the 20th century. Being an African-American, Owens struggled with the idea of going, fearing his life may have been in danger, but ultimately, felt the best way he could take a stand against Adolf Hitler’s Aryan agenda was toenter the lion’s den.

What popular history doesn’t remember about 1936 is the athletes who choose to stay at home as a form of protest. Harvard track star Milton Green, fencer Albert Wolff of France and basketball players from Long Island University actively boycotted the Games to bring light to anti-Semitism in Germany. Their stances were honourable, but received little fanfare in the end.

History teaches us many lessons about what we choose to remember, and what gets forgotten in the archives. Next February, the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing will take place, and boycott chatter from a number of Western nations is reaching fever pitch, with the Biden administration stating they are considering a joint boycott of the Games, and statement they then walked back.

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Will China face a massive boycott over the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics?

In March, the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee sent a much different message. President Susanne Lyons said boycotts were ineffective and unfairly penalised athletes who had spent their lives preparing for the Games. Lyons cited the 1980 Moscow Olympics where the US boycotted over the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. Moscow still handed out medals, but the Games essentially were wiped from history.

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