By Peachayatanomsup @Adobe Stock
Olympic Games Negate Putin
For many people across the globe, watching the Olympic games is a pleasure. What is perhaps more satisfying is what viewers are not seeing, writes Mr. Henninger: Russia.
Daniel Henninger in the WSJ wants readers to get one thing straight. Understand, he counsels, …
… Russia’s invisibility across the spectrum of Olympic sports is a repudiation of its leader.
Rather than a total ban, the International Olympic Committee devised a system that let some Russians compete as “neutral” individuals. The limits also apply to athletes from Belarus, Russia’s ally against Ukraine. In total, 15 Russian and 17 Belarusian athletes qualified. By contrast, more than 300 Russians competed in Tokyo’s Olympics, held in 2021 due to Covid.
Russians have been banned from the games. Individual athletes “who actively support the war” could not qualify.
Athletes “contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies” weren’t eligible. No Russian government official could be accredited to the games. Russia’s anthem, flag and colors were eliminated. The IOC “reaffirmed again the steadfast commitment of the entire Olympic Movement to help Ukrainian athletes in every way possible.”
Two gold, two silver and three bronze medals for Ukraine later, Yaroslava Mahuchikh (gold-medalist high jumper) dedicated her win to “our defenders” in Ukraine.
Why Is China in the Olympics
Mr. Henninger brings up the uncomfortable topic of China. How is it that China has 35 athletes in the games, some of whom have won medals?
Since the massive, extraordinarily brave Hong Kong street protests in opposition to China’s crackdown on the territory in 2019-20, the Communist mainland has been squeezing what little remains of Hong Kong’s independence. The island’s most well-known pro-democracy dissident, publisher Jimmy Lai, is being held in solitary confinement as he awaits trial on the specious charge of conspiring with a foreign power.
So, it was initially jarring to see athletes described as representing Hong Kong. The short answer is that the island still maintains a national Olympic committee, as it has since 1952, and thus qualifies to compete not as China, but as what the world still thinks of as Hong Kong.
Well, Mr. Henninger, jarring as it is to think about, tell us what would happen if/when China invades Taiwan?
Notwithstanding disputes over Taiwan’s legal status, the island has governed itself since the Republic of China relocated there in 1949. Taiwan holds free elections. China doesn’t.
There is little chance the IOC would impose bans on China’s athletes, and the double standard at least demonstrates the degree to which Russia under Mr. Putin is becoming an also-ran vassal of China. Realists will note that Russia’s Olympic humiliation hasn’t stopped Mr. Putin from shelling Ukraine, taking foreign hostages or ordering political assassinations.
Olympics: Hitler vs Putin and Xi Jinping
Don’t be foolish enough to underestimate the importance for Mr. Putin and China’s Xi Jinping of using their athletes’ performance as propaganda for the superiority of their total-control systems, continues Mr. Henninger. It’s not unlike Hitler’s actions in the Berlin 1936 Olympic games.
Worse Ways to Lose
Henninger has a neuralgic Olympic issue: doping. Messrs. Putin and Xi need to amass propaganda wins in sports. After all the hard training, Daniel Henninger can’t imagine anything worse than losing to a performance-enhancing drug.
Mr. Putin didn’t have to invade Ukraine to get kicked out of the Olympics. In 2015 Russian athletes were banned from track-and-field competition after the World Anti-Doping Agency released a devastating report of a vast state-sponsored system of using illicit drugs. The document challenged Russia’s results from the 2012 London Olympics.
Winning Fair
Meanwhile, the antidoping agency accepted China’s explanation of “tainted food,” when more than 20 of China’s swimmers were named in reports for failing doping tests in 2021.
Squeaky Clean
From U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky: “I hope everyone here is going to be competing clean this week.”
One and Done
After the Chinese men won the 4×100 medley relay last week, Britain’s star swimmer Adam Peaty said, “There’s no point in winning if you don’t win it fair.”
U.S. swimming great Michael Phelps said Monday, “If you test positive, you should never be allowed to come back and compete again.” He called it “one and done.”
Outside the Olympics, one and done isn’t possible in the global competition of states. But the past two weeks have provided clarity on the difference between pariahs and real winners.
If you’re willing to fight for Main Street America, click here to sign up for the Richardcyoung.com free weekly email.
