2008 Olympic Boycott - Should We or Shouldn't We?

Personally, I feel that sporting events are NOT the place to express political oppinions. These athletes have trained long and hard, and robbing them of this chance is wrong. What do you think?

I think its stupid, personally. And i don't use that word lightly. Like, leave the torch alone, who cares. The olympics is for the athletes, not for the government.

Sarah wrote:

I think its stupid, personally. And i don't use that word lightly. Like, leave the torch alone, who cares. The olympics is for the athletes, not for the government.

Thnak You!!

I think it's ridiculous to ask athletes who work so hard and sacrifice so much to skip out on the biggest event of their careers in order to make a political statement. They are dedicated to their sport, not politics, and I think it's unfair for politicians to use them as pawns.

Here's an open letter that an Australian rower sent to a politician who was urging a boycott. I think she sums it up great:


http://www.olympics.com.au/News/AustraliaNews/NewsArticle/tabid/223/Default.aspx?ArticleID=9957

Kimberley Crow has been selected in the Australian Rowing Team and is a former Pierre de Coubertin Medallist. She has written an open letter to Democrat Senator Andrew Bartlett.

Andrew Bartlett and I are both overly familiar with Parliament House. But Andrew Bartlett wouldn’t know me. I only ever see Parliament from the outside, from my rowing boat on Lake Burley Griffin. Besides, each day I’ve been and gone long before Andrew Bartlett arrives with his morning coffee.

But last week, Andrew Bartlett called for athletes like me to boycott the Beijing Olympic Games. He called it a “rare opportunity” to “voice our concerns about serious human rights abuses.”

But Andrew, my expertise is in rowing fast. It is not in political lobbying. If I am to make a difference in this world, it will be through doing what I do best.

Through sport, I can share values of sportsmanship, courage, determination and dedication. I believe in Olympic solidarity. When I wear the green and gold of Australia in August, I will be representing my country with pride. After my race, I will embrace my fellow competitors irrespective of their age, race or country of origin.

Sadly, the Olympics do have a long history of political boycotts. But fortunately, the underlying ideal of solidarity is still reverberating stronger than ever before.

Solidarity is the true concept of Olympism, where sport is a vehicle of unity.

It is for this reason that the Olympic Games are so special. And it is for this very same reason that I have given up, and continue to give up, so much in pursuit of my Olympic dream.

This Easter long weekend I did not see my family. Nor did I have an Easter Egg hunt. Instead I completed nine training sessions with my team-mates at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.

The Olympic Games is not, unlike the Australian cricket tour to Zimbabwe, one of many similar tours. It is my childhood dream. It is the reason I get up at 5am each morning and swab antiseptic on my blistered hands each night.

In my sport I am taught to control the controllables. I cannot control the wind or my competitors. I certainly cannot control the location of the Olympic Games. But I can control how fast my boat goes by controlling how hard I pull on my oar and how well I work in perfect harmony with my crew-mate.

No, Andrew Bartlett, I will not be boycotting the Olympic Games. When I race, I will be racing for myself, my country and the Olympics ideals. My participation in no way legitimises human rights abuses. Political statement is your realm, not mine.

One day, if I choose to stand for Parliament or work in Human Rights Law, I will do everything humanly possible to lobby for political change. But until then Andrew, I suggest you mark a few thousand rows past Parliament House into your diary. That way, you might be in a position to boycott the 2020 Olympic Games.

Kim Crow

haha nice article..very well said

In the newspaper I read today that a german athlet, Yvonne Bönisch, former olympic Judo champion, said that she's going to boycott the opening ceremony to show her protest but she'll participate in the competition. I think that's a good choice!
What do you think about boycotting the opening ceremony?

I think that you either boycott the whole thing, or attend the whole thing... choose one or the other.

Personally, I don't think they should be boycotted at all.

Tessa wrote:

In the newspaper I read today that a german athlet, Yvonne Bönisch, former olympic Judo champion, said that she's going to boycott the opening ceremony to show her protest but she'll participate in the competition. I think that's a good choice!
What do you think about boycotting the opening ceremony?

Hmm...that's an interesting choice,but it seems to me that she is saying that she feels that the Olympics should be used as a form of protest but she's not willing to give up her chance at competing to do so. While I understand that, it seems kind of silly to me. If she feels that the Olympics are a place of protest, that should involve boycotting the competition, not just the opening ceremony which is, while a nice memory and part of the games, not really all that important to an athlete. Well, those are my two cents. To each his own, I guess.

She shouldn't boycot just for the sakes of doing so. she obviously doesnt feel that the whole thing is that big of a deal because she would not attend the olympics at all if she did. The other thing though, shes German right? do they have any power like Russia and China where if your told to go you go? That would be the only reason why I could see her doing that, if shes being forced to go its another story.

Yes, she's German. And I don't think there is any power like you described..at least I have never heard of it..so I'm pretty sure there's not.
Anyway, I can't tell why she decided on boycotting the opening ceremony because the article was really really short. It only told what she had decided to do but didn't mention why...

I've just found this article:

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SPORT/04/15/olympics.germany.ap/index.html

I agree with those of you who feel that the Olympics is about the athletes. They've worked incredibly hard and it's shameful of their governments to ask them to forgo their chance at competing just so political points can be scored.

For most of these athletes, this is their only opportunity at the Olympics, not to mention that they've probably spent Years working toward this goal.

Let the politicians find another way to show wrath and indignation.