The approach of the Olympics has historically provided the world a warm anticipation of relief from exhausting news cycles.
The approach of the Olympics has historically provided the world a warm anticipation of relief from exhausting news cycles. It is usually a tonic for the soul, a vacation from global tensions, a respite from the daily drone of fresh global crises. The 2022 Olympiad comes at a moment of great need for such a respite. Today’s world has not only its share of geopolitical trouble spots, but also the continuing vise-grip of a pandemic now entering its third year. If there was ever a time to sit back and let the imagery and achievements of the Olympics wash over us, it is now. Sadly, this is quite impossible. The world is filled with cities that deserve their first shot at the glow of Olympic attention. The world is also filled with cities that are not the capital of a repressive communist regime. Yet, the International Olympic Committee cast its gaze across a planet filled with bright prospects, and in its wisdom chose Beijing… again. The massive gift of the 2008 summer games was apparently not enough for an IOC eager to bestow unequaled positive attention upon the Chinese capital. Let’s stipulate that not every Olympic city can be a Western-style freedom oasis. For an event whose point is to be an apolitical celebration of sport, an argument can be made for Moscow in 1980, Sochi in still-authoritarian Russia in 2014 and even Beijing in 2008. But a return a mere 14 years later? How often will we be asked to display the willful blindness necessary to reach approval—or even ambivalence—as Olympic glory returns to the nexus of the world’s most morally bereft empire? The Uyghur genocide, the persecution of Hong Kong, the political imprisonment of countless citizens and the wanton theft of Western technology constitute a track record that makes it impossible to simply enjoy the culture and vistas of the Olympic host country.
