Boycotting the Olympics

Every four years athletes meet for the Olympics. For many of them, it is the highlight of their athletic career. They train hard and long for their moment of glory.

I worked for Softball Canada when the Moscow Olympics were boycotted. There were many disappointed Canadian athletes. Russia had invaded Afghanistan, so many countries pulled out.

In 1984, the Soviet Union and countries like Cuba wouldn’t attend the Games in Los Angeles.

With the trouble in Tibet, many are contemplating pulling out of the Beijing Olympics.

While I am concerned how athletes are constantly trying to enhance their efforts, I still don’t see the point of bringing sport into politics.

Is it effective? Let’s look back to Los Angeles. Did we really miss the Communist countries? All I remember is Canada gloating over how many more medals it got, particularly in sports like boxing where the Cubans are always strong. The Americans had an even bigger field day.

Is sport the answer of how we bring attention to injustices that are going on in the world? If it is, then maybe we need to award games to a few other choice countries in the world.

I wouldn’t feel so strongly about this if I didn’t know that many business people are falling over themselves to establish relations with the Chinese.

It appears that we are prepared to sacrifice athletes to make a point, but we would never want to jeopardize something that might hurt us in the pocketbook.

Come on, everyone. There must be other ways protests can be made on the situation in Tibet.