For What It’s Worth: Mixing sports and politics

By CASH MOORE on December 16, 2021.

Last week, citing human rights abuses by the Chinese government; Justin Trudeau announced Canada will stage a diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing. What this means is Canada won’t send any government officials to the Games; only coaches and athletes will attend.

Following the announcement, there has been much commentary in newspapers and on social media around the country arguing that this measure doesn’t go far enough. They argue Canada should stage a full boycott of the Games; meaning Canadian athletes won’t participate.

First of all, a full boycott is incredibly unfair to the athletes. For many athletes, the Olympics are equal in significance to the Stanley Cup, World Series or Super Bowl. It is the most important event of their sporting careers, and the thought of representing their nation on the brightest stage is what motivates them through years of intense training and lifestyle sacrifices that all elite athletes endure.

Because the Winter Olympic Games only occur every four years, for many athletes, Beijing 2022 may be their only opportunity to qualify for their lifelong goal. It would be unjust to deny, based on political theatre, these incredibly driven individuals their dream of pursuing a medal for their country.

An argument against this previous paragraph would be that the plight of those who are oppressed by the Chinese government outweighs the fact that athletes will miss out on their dream. The flaw in this logic is it assumes that by Canada boycotting the games, something will actually change in China. The fact is that China is now firmly entrenched as the second most powerful country on the planet. Canada boycotting Beijing may slightly annoy the Chinese government, but it’s not going to make them suddenly overhaul their authoritarian system or gain a new respect for human rights overnight.

In 1980, 60 countries including Canada staged a full boycott of the Moscow Olympics over the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. The boycott cost the Soviet Union some money over lost tourism but achieved nothing of substance, as the Soviets did not pull out of Afghanistan until 1989.

There are much more appropriate and effective avenues to combat China’s transgressions that don’t hurt Canadian athletes.

Calls for a full boycott of the Olympics are another example of the growing trend of politics encroaching into the world of sports. The fact is that sports are used as an outlet to escape from the mundane of everyday life, including politics. Although political issues are important, people shouldn’t have it shoved down their throats when they are simply looking for entertainment.

The Olympics and sports in general should not be a place for political posturing. There is a wealth of appropriate venues and mediums that are for politics, they should stay there and stay away from sports.

Canada is in dire need of unity, few things are more unifying than coming together as a nation to watch our fellow Canadians dominate the sports we love.

Cash Moore is a political science student at the University of Alberta from Medicine Hat. Feedback for his columns can be sent to letters@medicinehatnews.com

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