As a justification for allowing China to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, the International Olympic Committee has said that it is not a political body and that its focus is only on sports events. But this is not how the IOC has viewed itself historically, and even now, the organization takes political steps to appease the Chinese Communist Party.
The IOC has previously banned countries over internal politics. This includes a ban on apartheid South Africa before the 1964 Games, which wasn’t lifted until 1992. The IOC also banned Afghanistan from the 2000 Games over the Taliban’s discrimination against women.
To this day, the IOC has taken political positions. Taiwan is currently forced to participate in the Olympics under the name “Chinese Taipei.” When the country set up a referendum on changing its Olympic name to Taiwan, the IOC threatened to ban them for future games. (The referendum ended up failing.)
The IOC has no answer for why it chooses to ignore China’s concentration camps and other human rights abuses. It has been reduced to playing defense, trying to excuse away its responsibility for selecting China as a host in the first place and keep other countries from launching a deserved boycott.
U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said the country will not rule out a boycott of the 2022 Games. Florida Sen. Rick Scott and Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey introduced a bipartisan resolution calling on China to be stripped of hosting duties, joined by nine other senators. It’s made no difference to the IOC that China’s cover-up of the coronavirus has led to a global pandemic that jeopardizes the since-delayed 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
The IOC is lying about its nonpolitical stance because it has made up its mind. China’s concentration camps and militant aggression in Asia are fine as long as the IOC can rake in the money. It’s gone out of its way to placate the CCP, and if they won’t pull the 2022 Games from China, the United States should lead the way and boycott.
