The Olympic Movement brooks no political manipulation

The Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 are less than eight months away. While preparations are in the final stage and athletes from around the world are gearing up for the Games, some Western countries have fired absurd remarks of boycotting the Games in the name of “China’s human rights issues”.

Playing the human rights card has long been the go-to trick of some Western countries, who make groundless accusations against others while turning a blind eye to their own woeful records. Too bad the world has seen through their trick all along. Politically instrumentalizing the innocent Olympic Movement is a shameful act doomed to fail.

Political manipulation of the Olympic Movement can hardly find any support given its unjust nature. Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, who spearheaded the boycott this time around, had made similar remarks before the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. Nonetheless, Beijing turned in an unparalleled score sheet and delivered a spectacular global sporting gathering. This proved China’s ability to host the Games and demonstrated the support of people from across the world.

Thirteen years on, China’s composite national strength has grown by leaps and bounds and it has made more and more friends around the world. Some western politicians with misguided views label China with trumped-up charges of human rights issues and politically manipulate the Olympic Movement. But such moves are nothing more than a countercurrent that cannot last. Echoes for the boycott are scant, while overwhelming voices of opposition to the boycott have come from multiple governments, including U.S. allies, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. To interfere in the Olympics in the name of so-called human rights issues not only drags the Olympic Movement into the whirlpools of geopolitics and ideological confrontation, but also distorts and sabotages the international human rights cause. Such an attempt will find no support in the people.

Political manipulation of the Olympic Movement violates the Olympic spirit. The Olympic spirit featuring solidarity, friendship and peace is prized by the whole of humanity. To boycott the Olympics with political lies sows only division, hostility and confrontation. Such a move runs counter to the Olympic spirit. IOC President Thomas Bach has warned of disrespect by politics for the political neutrality of the Olympics, stating that “the most blatant expression of such disrespect are calls for boycotts of sporting events, or boycotting host countries of sporting events”. Such boycotts breach the principle of political neutrality, and it is the Olympic cause and athletes from all countries that stand to suffer.

“Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind ...” says the Olympic Charter. It is the dream of all athletes to stand out and shine in competitions for their countries’ honor. Their sports careers, fleeting and precious as they are, brook no interference or disruption. It is important that countries offer athletes a stage to pursue the motto of the Olympics — “faster, higher and stronger”, not leave them with lifelong regret caused by political manipulation with ulterior motives.

Political manipulation of the Olympic Movement is of no help to bring the world out of the shadows of COVID-19. The once-in-a-century pandemic has plunged the world into its most trying time in the 21st century. The world needs the Olympic Movement to enhance solidarity and revitalize development. Therefore, we must make full use of the two Games held in the same year so that they can serve as engines for economic growth, bridges to facilitate the flow of people and propellers of mutual learning among civilizations.

In the past months, diplomatic envoys to China visited the venues of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. They warmly praised the preparation work, expressed confidence in the success of the Games, and showed keen anticipation of this festive sporting and cultural gathering. The world has been in the throes of COVID-19 for too long. What we need to do is let the Olympic Movement bring sunshine and hope to the world, not cast a shadow over the Movement by political manipulation.

With the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics approaching, those seeking to smear China and boycott the Games may continue to clamor. But as a Chinese poem reads, “While apes on both sides of the river howl incessantly, my boat has left behind thousands of mountains already.” China will stay committed to a green, inclusive, open and clean approach to hosting the Games and spare no effort in the preparation work, in order to present winter sports enthusiasts and all the people around the world with Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games that are simple, safe and splendid.