As of my writing this column, the Beijing Winter Olympics have just officially concluded, and China is still committing crimes against humanity.
The most active listeners of reports of China’s continued human rights abuses will continue to hear only silence, even while the Games are held in Beijing. That's because that’s exactly what the Chinese government wants you to hear.
I have written at length about the impact of the Olympics on international relations, but the failure of the Beijing Games to affect any significant change or even bring about international conversation surrounding Chinese crimes is a blatant sportswashing job by the International Olympic Committee and the Chinese government.
Several weeks before the Games, Chinese officials made it abundantly clear to athletes and other involved parties that there would be no tolerance for speech that violated Chinese law. This encompasses essentially anything remotely critical of the government or their continued subjugation and cultural destruction of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. Not one athlete openly criticized the Chinese government while at the Games, something I don’t blame them for whatsoever. The case of Peng Shuai provided an example of what would happen if these rules were violated.
However, it's still important for those outside of the Games to criticize these abuses. From NBC’s bottom-line defending broadcast, held in a stranglehold by Chinese authorities threatening a lack of access, to the Games’ countless corporate sponsors and those that support various teams, no one is free from blame. But allow me to highlight who could have stopped this all from the outset: the IOC.
Countries do not simply bid to host the Olympics with no questions asked. The IOC can, and does, intensely audit all potential host nations. There are countless inflection points where the IOC could have rejected Beijing’s bid for the Games over the past seven years. However, the IOC asked their questions, and found nothing wrong enough to change course.
The IOC generally hides behind their remit, basically saying they have no ability or responsibility to affect the internal policies of sovereign nations. But the irony in that explanation is as insulting as it is stupid. The World Anti Doping Agency, an IOC-founded body whose non governmental members are composed entirely of IOC representatives, barred Russia, undoubtedly a major global power, from competing in the Olympics going forward due to widespread doping. Even though they could not stop Russia from drugging athletes, they could stop them from competing. It is well within the IOC’s remit to stop China from hosting the Games when their crimes against humanity are obvious to those who don’t conduct a multiyear evaluation of its suitability.
Excuses are not what makes the Olympics into more than just a sporting event. When John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised their fists for Black Power at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, they did so knowing that it would cost them and their careers greatly. The IOC’s hands were tied down for years, not by their purview but by cowardice.
