The International Olympic Committee has reiterated that it will allow no political displays from athletes. While athletes and Western media outlets focus on the ramifications for “racial justice” protests, the real chilling effect strikes athletes who protest China’s human rights abuses ahead of the 2022 Beijing Games.
The IOC claimed to have consulted athletes and determined it would keep Rule 50 in place for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Rule 50 forbids “demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda” in any Olympic sites or venues. The focus here has been on athletes kneeling or raising their fists for “Black Lives Matter,” but it also sets the stage for the IOC to punish athletes who protest against China during the Winter Olympics in Beijing next year.
As is often the case, the fabricated narrative of systemic racism that powers the Black Lives Matter movement will take all the headlines away from the fact that the IOC’s decision serves to protect China’s reputation. Athletes are going to protest anyway, and pretending that they are channeling the civil rights movement to defy the IOC will bring glowing coverage from Western media. Athletes protesting against China in either Tokyo or Beijing will be overshadowed.
The IOC bans political propaganda from Olympic venues unless it’s Chinese propaganda that the IOC enforces. There is no more clear example than Taiwan being forced to continue to compete as “Chinese Taipei” under the threat of expulsion by the IOC. Taiwanese athletes cannot compete under the flag of their own country, nor can they hear their own national anthem from the podium.
The athletes, American or otherwise, who kneel during the American national anthem or replicate the “black power” raised fists of Tommie Smith and John Carlos in 1968 will get fawning coverage and the backing of athlete groups. What happens to athletes who cross China, like those from Argentina who waved Taiwan’s flag at the closing ceremonies of a different international competition, will get lost in the shuffle. If, that is, any athletes decide it’s even worth it to try.
Athletes who take up social justice causes will become celebrity activists overnight. Just look at figure skater Adam Rippon, whose brave stance in 2018 was opposing former Vice President Mike Pence. Athletes who take a real stand, especially at the Beijing Games next year, will face an IOC that is firmly in China’s pocket, while the athletes have few allies in the media or among their fellow athletes.
