Practicing Paper Tigerism: Threatening to Boycott Russia's 2014 Sochi Olympics

The lights are about to go out on Beijing 2008, and -- guess what -- there's already talk of a Georgia-related U.S.-organized boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. That's because 2014 is set for Russia and its resort city of Sochi.

In the Olympics boycott category, this one has legs. The initial anti-Sochi bleats are not from the likes of Mia Farrow, environmentalists, or other cause-mongers, but from Big Players, "realists" and high-ranking officials like Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who are looking for ways to demonstrate that Russia must "pay the price" for its actions in Georgia. It even has John McCain "dramatic gesture" written all over it.

So while a Sochi boycott is still remote, it's serious. This is good news for the boycott industry, because the chance of a movement against Vancouver 2010 is politically laughable, and against London 2012, highly unlikely.

With this potential threat, the epic of politicizing the Games and countries "getting even" gains a fresh life. And a global audience gets to witness the next chapter in a geopolitical saga that had much of its start with the 1980 Moscow Olympics boycott (organized by President Jimmy Carter to protest the invasion of Afghanistan) and the 1984 revenge Los Angeles boycott (organized by Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko).

Peter Ueberroth, the distinguished head of the 1984 LA Games, was quoted at the time in Sports Illustrated, calling Carter and the somewhat-forgotten Chernenko "political hacks who could think of nothing better in the way of foreign policy initiatives than to go after the Games." Indeed, it was Ueberroth's emissary to China who persuaded its leaders to boycott the boycott and reenter the Olympic stage (events, in Ueberroth's recent telling, that ripened into the 2008 hosting).

Are there ways of cooling down the rhetoric?

Maybe the problem is there are too few sanction-like options. As a result, resorting to a boycott becomes the default -- just because of a lack of imagination. What if that kind of action is "disproportionate" -- to use the term President Bush used to characterize Russia's reaction to the Georgia initiative in South Ossetia.?

The IOC and the United States and others could develop alternate sanctions that provide a negotiated way of measuring and pushing symbolic actions.

For example, there's the architecture of Sochi. The IOC could make Russia stand in the figurative corner by depriving the Organizing Committee of commissioning a Bird's Nest-like building moment. The IOC could require that Russia use a Tank-style metaphor to remind the world of its 2008 actions. After all, the resort city was Stalin's summer home, and his famous dacha, once a Stalinist shrine, is now a hotel there.

And there's the Opening Ceremony. One possibility is to have a mandatory hack in and recreate Kremlin May Day gatherings of yore, with missiles and rockets instead of allowing triumphal images of flying athletes and thousands of volunteers performing miracles of lyrical coordination as in Beijing.

The IOC could introduce a new event: perhaps synchronized obeisance, or competitive propaganda (with Georgia and Russia facing off), or "peacekeeper" teams with points awarded for discouraging violence. In a kind of de-Baathification move, the IOC could bar former KGB staffers from acting as referees. Instead of anti-doping tests, athletes could be tested for their patriotism. To punish Georgia for picking a fight in the first instance, South Ossetia and Abkhazia could be recognized by the IOC (Taiwan-style) to field their own Olympics teams, say in the luge.

If a U.S.-organized boycott goes through, our leaders could encourage a repeat of Ted Turner's Goodwill Games -- a substitute venue created after 1984 for athletes who were at their prime but had no place to go because their countries did not participate in the chase for the Gold. If there's a Sochicott, a latter-day Turner could organize alternate games in Ljubljana or Yerevan or Almaty and our medalists could compete with the Kosovars, the Estonians, and whoever else joins the noble protest. It might not be so exciting, but we would have made our statement.

Comments

[sociocanuck]

A U.S. boycott at a Winter Olympics will only serve to make countries with wintery climates seem MORE dominant; including and especially Russia. If the U.S. pulls out that basically leaves Canada, the UK, and a bunch of Scandinavians to put a "western"-made dent in the Russian medal count. And as much as I admire the atheletes of all these nations (especially my own two) I just don't think it will be that much of a competition.

[OhReallySheSaid]

If you follow this looney reasoning of boycotting international sporting events because the USA is incapable of normal diplomacy from Bush that would diffuse these issues, then what if the IOC told the USA you cannot compete in Beijing because of your illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq?

Then you tell Michael Phelps, Shawn Johnson, and rest of our team that their years of training was for naught and can't go because of an illegal invasion, while China and the rest of the world gobble up the golds as the rest of the world watches. As usual, the USA has not thought through this stupid idea. Television ratings for the Olympics are up over 30% across the globe. Until Beijjing, U.S. TV ratings for the Olympics have been flat since 1988. The rest of the world is moving past us, and our brilliant idea is to boycott events that gives the world a positive showcase of American values and ideals.

The problem with this empty idea is, the rest of the world may not care that we don't show up, especially for the Winter Games.

[gage]

It's incorrect to say that there is a call for a boycott. Actually, the lawmakers are calling for the IOC to move the Olympics to another location. Here's part of the statement:

" WASHINGTON - The International Olympic Committee should punish Russia by moving the 2014 Winter Olympics out of Sochi, Russia, the co-chairs of the congressional House Georgia Caucus said.

Reps. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa., and Bill Shuster, R-Pa., said in a joint statement they plan to file a resolution declaring that Russia's movement of troops into Georgia on the eve of the Beijing Olympics makes it an unacceptable country to host the games."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080815/ap_on_go_co/oly_russia_olympics_congress

"It is practically and financially untenable to hold the 2014 Winter Olympic Games less than 20 miles from a zone of conflict, particularly when the prospective host country has played a significant role in the escalation of that conflict," according to a draft of the resolution­."

[OhReallySheSaid]

How about moving the 2016 Olympics out of Chicago due to the USA's persistent occupation of Iraq that we promised to leave after the first six months?

[Kyuzo]

You know how you use the Olympics to send a message to a totalitarian regime? Send athletes like Michael Phelps and Dwyane Wade and Shawn Johnson to prove that no matter how much you try to force your will on others, nothing produces excellence better than free will.

[DAE]

Um, free will? What's that have to do with it? The 45 gold medals won by the Chinese athletes are a reflection of outstanding performance but not free will? They don't have the free will to want to excel? What kind of nonsense is this sort of rhetoric?

[OhReallySheSaid]

If a president has the right to imprison you for life at his whim, with no chance of ever getting any legal help, does that mean I live in a totalitarian world? Bush can do that anytime he wants under our current "terrorist" laws. So who really has free will? We have free will until Bush decides he doesn't like us for whatever reason he can conjure up.

[HypocrisyAlarm]

I hope the authorities don't make this emty gesture once again. The only people punished are those like Curt Thomas (the first chance the US had to break the dominance of the USSR in gymnastics on the men's side), the athletes who have little or no control over the politicians (who created the situations in the first place).

[gage]

The lawmakers aren't calling for a boycott; they're calling for the Olympics to be moved to another nation. This way, the athletes can still compete.

[DAE]

Well, I hope you are protesting holding the 2016 Olympics in Chicago based on our invasion of Iraq.

[BARRISTER]

"Punishing the Russians"??? Are you guys serious? Are the Russians your children that you can "punish" them for retaliating against aggression committed by Georgia? Who the hell do you think you are?

Punish Israel for constantly invading and annexing soverign territories first, then maybe we can talk about Russia!!!!

[HypocrisyAlarm]

Touché!! Unfortunately, they are serious, and they think (literally) that they are God's gift to the world.

[OhReallySheSaid]

Georgia started this mess. Saakashvili fire missiles on his own citizens he wants to supposedly protect. Abkhazia has never wanted to be a part of Georgia as did South Oseata from the beginning. Why not let those 2 self determine their destiny like George Bush so roundly brags that people have a right to do? Like Germany and France, we should be building bridges to the power that will be the largest supplier of energy to the world in next decades, and staying out of their squables.

[insanityfollows]

This issue will be moot if things keep deteriorating at this pace. I'm afraid we might not be around for the 2014 games.

[xcrunner77]

How about punishing the Russians by punishing the Russians -- not the world's athletes?

Let the country pay the price by taking the games away from Russia. Do not allow Russian athletes to participate (a reverse boycott?) This punishes the offender rather than the world's athletes, who did no wrong. Imagine telling Michael Phelps he can't go to China because we're boycotting the games. What a waste of talent that would have been!

Athletes and their parents spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars over many years training to get to the Olympics. They should not be made to suffer because the host country misbehaved.

You know who's really cold in winter and not likely to invade anybody? Canada. And Switzerland. And New Zealand (although the seasons are reversed, but that could be an interesting change... winter games in summer!)

The Olympic Commitee should pick a few of these peaceful winter sites as the permanent home of the winter games. THey could rotate among the "nice" countries. Let the less reliable countries apply, knowing that if they start misbehaving, Canada or Switzerland are ready to step in, with a reliable infrastructure built in.

If aggressive nations know they will lose the Olympics they will think twice.

A boycott will not punish Russia. Most of the world will still show up, and spend tons of money in their towns. WIth the US out of the way the Russians can win that many more medals. Some punishment.

[sociocanuck]

I might just be totally biased, but I like your concept of "peaceful" nations as permanent homes for the Games. Except that I'd be a bit worried about the establishment of who exactly qualify as peacful sites, given possibility of biases creeping into the nomination strategy.

Incidentally, Canada is in Afghanistan right now in a role that somewhat undermines our reputation as a peacful nation. Perhaps we'd be temporarily removed from that list until our currently Right-Wing government is given the boot.

I'm not going as far as to suggest our 2010 Olympics be revoked, though.