Olympic Boycott Would Be A Huge Mistake

When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded Beijing the 2008 Summer Olympics, the games were heralded as an opportunity for China to show the world all the great strides it has made to clean up its far-from-spotless human rights record.
Television networks dreamed of shooting live coverage of Tiananmen Square, the site where 21 years ago ago the Chinese government massacred hundreds of anti-government protesters. (The exact number of deaths is unknown: the Chinese government claims 200-300 casualties, less than half of the 400-800 reported by the New York Times, and thousands less than the 2,000-3,000 claimed by the Chinese Red Cross.)
But instead of allowing the media to broadcast live from Tianamen Square, the Chinese government has decided to ban all media from showing live shots from the square.
China is also under fire for continuing to deny independence to Tibet. In fact, China's recent crackdown on Tibetans and the government ordered "re-education" of Tibetans about the Dali Lama shows that the Chinese have taken steps in the opposite direction.
Many protesters have called for a boycott of the Beijing games. I realize I'm about to take the unpopular position here, but a boycott would be terrible.
The only other major Olympic boycotts came when the United States, and several other Western nations boycotted the Moscow games in 1980 over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and when a Soviet-led group boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles games in retaliation.
Both of those boycotts, and the potential boycott of the Beijing games, are idiotic, naive, immature, and an altogether poor way of dealing with serious issues.
The whole point of the Olympics is, and has always been, to celebrate sport, to depart from politics if only for a fortnight. That point hasn't always been followed, but it has always been the goal.
First off, the IOC is at fault for making the Chinese Olympics a political forum. Secondly, as I've mentioned earlier a boycott is a ridiculous way to make a statement. A statement needs to be made, but an Olympic boycott is not the right statement.
Take a look down at your shoes, at the tag on your shirt or jacket. Chances are, your clothes were made in China. Also made in China are most of the other consumer goods used by the Westernized world.
Anybody who really wants to make a statement shouldn't boycott the Olympics, they should boycott Chinese goods.
That wouldn't be trendy, but it would be effective. It wouldn't be cheap, but it would be effective. It would be 100% effective. It would be a million times more effective than sending a message for two weeks and then not caring again.
Additionally, I find it odd so many people suddenly care about Tibet. Don't get me wrong, there has long been a popular "Free Tibet" movement for a long time, but far more people care about Tibet now, simply because the talk of a boycott in Beijing is making "Free Tibet" the "hip" movement.
One major instance where an Olympic boycott was arguably warranted was the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The Holocaust hadn't started yet, however Hitler's anti-Semitic policies were no secret. Also common knowledge was his love for the Aryan race. In fact, only Aryans could compete for German teams.
But did the US boycott? No! There was talk of a boycott, but there wasn't a boycott.
Instead of trying chastising Germany for their racism, the US competed in the Olympics.
As any sports historian can tell you, the star of the '36 games was Jesse Owens, a not quite 23-year-old black track star from Alabama. The son of a sharecropper and the grandson of a slave, Owens won four gold metals.
Needless to say, a black athlete taking gold in four events, beating out Hitler's supposedly-superior Aryan athletes was a far more significant way to condemn Hitler than boycotting the games and allowing the Aryan athletes to win.
Consider though that Owens wasn't trying to make a political message, he was trying to win, just like any other athlete.
Olympic boycotts always have been and always will be a slap in the face for the athletes.
A Venice parent, Jan Palchikoff was a member of the 1976 Olympic women's rowing team. She was supposed to be a member of the 1980 team as well, but the US-led boycott against the Soviets prevented her from competing on the world's stage a second time.
Owens and Palchikoff, like all athletes, dedicate their lives to training for the games.
Not only are Olympic boycotts poor ways to communicate an idea, they do a disservice to all the athletes by denying them the chance to compete.
If you really think the US should boycott the Beijing games, don’t buy things that are made in China. If you really think China needs to be taught a lesson, don’t simply ask for an Olympic boycott and then stop caring.
Boycotts don’t punish nations, they punish the athletes.