The Chinese aspire, at least economically, to be the number one power in the world, which wants to cast a shadow not only on its neighbors in Japan and Korea, but even the United States and Russia. As the organizers of the Olympic Games, they lost this Asian competition, because after the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 (despite the difficult conditions during the epidemic) and the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in 2018, the world of sports will be much better. Experience from after Beijing 2022. Even Sochi 2014 in Russia Putin does not seem to leave such hatred.

We knew these games would be highly politicized, featuring the increasingly fierce rivalry between China and the United States in every field, long before the competition even began. The US government was one of the first governments to declare a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Games due to human rights violations in the country, and decided not to send high-ranking politicians to the opening ceremony in China.

Important countries such as Great Britain, Canada, Japan, Australia and New Zealand have joined the boycott And a few others. The European Parliament accepted the appeal to defend human rights in China. On the other hand, Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, decided to visit China.

France decided on a compromise, and its president did not travel to China, but was sent there by the French Minister of Sports. President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, although he also had various reservations, like the heads of many other countries, before the invitation of Chinese leader Xi JinpingHe explained that it would be a good opportunity to present Europe’s position to the Chinese president in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Society was not always good, because there were many tyrants, at the head of whom was Vladimir Putin, who closed his eyes during the opening ceremony of the Games, during the march of the Ukrainian team, sitting in an armchair, as if taking a nap. And she remembered everyone’s famous game and song: “The old bear sleeps quietly, we are afraid of him, we are on tiptoe, when he wakes up, he eats us …”. It was a black prophecy.

For the sake of balance, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, also decided to come to Beijing to present his arguments at the international forum and in talks with the President of China.

The diplomatic boycott by the United States resulted from allegations against the Chinese regime: pacification of Hong Kong, pressure on Taiwan, human rights abuses through mass persecution of Tibetans and Uyghurs, about a million of whom have been placed in dire conditions in so-called re-education.

If anyone thought that with the start of the Olympics, we would forget about politics and focus on athletic rivalry, they were somewhat wrong. We really had a strong introduction during the opening ceremony. Organizers have chosen a Chinese Uyghur skateboarder – Dinigeer Yilamujiang – for two who will bring the Olympic fire to the stadium and light the candle. This cannot be interpreted as anything other than a cynical provocation by the Chinese authorities against those countries that have diplomatically boycotted the Games.

It is clear that the IOC did not control the situation, its spokesman even made a rather strange statement: “Yilamujiang is an athlete, he competes in the Olympic Games and can be chosen for the delegation.” Well, don’t bite the hand that feeds, but you could have put yourself in a more balanced and wiser position. At this point, the famous sentence of Oscar Wilde is remembered: “Every day 12,000 people pass over London Bridge. Most of them are fools.”

Were these the worst and most politicized games in history? It is difficult to get such an assessment and an unequivocal opinion. Probably not, because unfortunately the competition is very big here, but somewhere near the Beijing 2022 podium has definitely shifted. It’s hard to beat the fascist propaganda from the 1936 Berlin Olympics and the scandalous behavior of Adolf Hitler, who did not want to shake hands with the massive black American athlete Jesse Owens (he won four gold medals at the time).

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Robert Zelensky – Polsat Sport