China’s case shows it's hard to divorce sports from the fight for justice anywhere

Reading about a spirited campaign by 180 organisations urging governments to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in China got me thinking how something which should bring people together can also be the subject of so much division inside a country.

On February 4 this year when China was marking exactly one year to go before the postponed Winter Olympics, which will be held in Beijing and in towns in the neighbouring Hebei Province, Dick Pound, a senior member of the International Olympic Committee was fighting off criticism of IOC’s decision to host the Games in the Asian nation.

Opposition to IOC staging the Winter Games in China stems from human rights abuses against minorities, particularly the Uighur Muslims who have been denied religious and other forms of freedom.

The 180 organisations feature mainly groups representing Tibetans, Uighurs and residents of Hong Kong. They want a boycott of the Games “to ensure they are not used to embolden the Chinese Government’s appalling rights abuses and crackdowns on dissent”.

Campaigns against the Olympic Games are nothing new. Kenya and other 24 African countries alongside Taiwan, Iraq and Sri Lanka boycotted the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada in protest at the IOC’s refusal to ban New Zealand from the Games.

Before the July 17-August 1 1986 Games could start, New Zealand’s rugby team had toured apartheid South Africa. South Africa had been banned from the Olympics since 1964 for refusing to condemn apartheid. The country remained banned from the Olympics until 1992 when it repealed apartheid laws.

At least 300 competitors did not take part in the Games, forcing organisers to cancel or re-schedule some events.

Tanzania’s Filbert Bayi and Uganda’s John Akii-Bua who were the world record holders at the time in men’s 1,500 metres and 400 metres hurdles respectively, were prominent African absentees.

While announcing the country’s withdrawal from the Games, Kenya’s Minister for Foreign Affairs James Osogo said: “The government and the people of Kenya hold the view that principles are more precious than medals.”

Kenya would again skip the next edition of the Olympic Games. The US led 66 countries, Kenya included, in boycotting the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow to protest the Soviet-Afghan war. Records indicate that between 562,000 and 2 million civilians were killed in the cold war-era proxy war which US was party to.

In a revenge mission, the Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games alongside 14 nations, including Hungary, East Germany, Poland, Angola, Ethiopia and Cuba.

Whereas the boycott of the 1976, 1980 and 1984 editions of the Olympic Games were inspired by external actors, calls for a boycott of 2020 Winter Olympics are unique because they are inspired by voices from within China.

More recently, Russia and Qatar have fought off calls for boycott of major sporting championships. In the run-up to the 2018 Fifa World Cup, there was a lot of anti-Russia sentiments. Russia struggled to keep world politics and the country’s poor human rights record from interfering with its preparations for the 2018 Fifa World Cup. In the words of Fifa President Gianni Infantino, Russia staged the most successful tournament in the history of the Fifa World Cup.

As a visitor to Qatar during the 2019 World Athletics Championship, I saw a country that had largely succeeded in overcoming the negative effects of a Saudi-led land, air and sea blockade by the country’s neighbours in 2017 for its alleged support for terrorism. Qatar hosted a successful championship and, with the thawing of relations between the Gulf countries, there is every likelihood that the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar will be a successful tournament. 

To avoid muddying the 2022 Winter Olympics, China should have dealt with the matter of the Uighur Muslims as soon as yesterday. Although IOC’s “Rule 50” forbids athletes from protesting at Olympic venues, the matter of the Uighur Muslims will continue dominating the conversation before and after the Games.