Category — Boycotts

To boycott or not to boycott the Beijing Olympics? That is the question. Include Steve Stoute, president of the Barbados Olympic Association (BOA), in the “Not to B” or the “not to boycott” column. Here’s his take on the matter according to Barbados’ Nation News:

The best way to deal with this is to attend the Olympic Games. If I were a head of state my approach would be to attend the Games and use it as a mechanism to try and make change.

I have found that dealing with the Chinese administration even on the smallest of matters, they need considerable dialogue in order to initiate change. The best way to deal with matters is dialogue.

The Nation News also reports that Barbados will “attend the Games in full regalia”. Do you think this “full regalia” will be more interesting than Canada’s infamous pajamas posing as an Olympic uniform?

Related:
Country Report: Barbados in the Olympic Games

Let’s include my favorite Anglican Archbishop, South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu in our list of party poopers.

From Reuters: Archbishop Desmond Tutu urged world leaders on Sunday to stay away from the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in August.

“The leaders of the free world, for goodness sake, don’t attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games until it is quite clear that they (the Chinese) mean business and that they will stop the violence against the Tibetans,” Tutu said at a Cape Town ceremony for an alternative “Tibetan” Olympic torch.

South Africa’s Nobel Peace laureate lit a “Tibetan” Olympic torch, which was kindled in Delhi on January 30 and will travel to cities on five continents before arriving in May back in Dharamsala, India, where Tibet’s parliament-in-exile is based.

Protesters have followed the official Olympic flame as it travelled around the world and highlighted China’s human rights record in Tibet ahead of the Games starting on Aug. 8.

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Is your country’s leader attending the Beijing Olympic Games? What about your athletes? We’re asking because of news reports that some world leaders are boycotting the opening ceremonies to express their displeasure for China’s human rights record in general and its recent conduct in Tibet in particular. Some athletes have also expressed support to the boycott idea.

The boycott calls prompted us here at The Olympian Blog to come up with the following list of party goers and party poopers. See where your President/Prime Minister, some athletes, and some famous personalities stand on this issue.

The Party Goers
1. Finland: Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen will go to the party. Turns out that Finland has a policy of keeping politics and sports separate so PM Vanhanen is free to go.

Do you think the Finns have the right idea? To end the endless debate on how to deal with the issue of sports and politics, maybe each country should come up with its policy of either mixing sports and politics or keeping them in separate realms.

2. Mongolia: President Nambaryn Enkhbayar will attend the opening ceremony. On top of that he will also watch some matches. No doubt he’ll be cheering for Mongolia’s 13 athletes who are hoping that they can bring home a medal for their country.

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