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As I watched the beautiful and technologically spectacular opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, one thing stood out: the absence of joy.
Despite some smiling performers and athletes (whose smiles were hidden behind masks), what should have been a jubilant celebration simply wasn’t. In a near-empty stadium, even Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” couldn’t live up to its name, playing incongruently as an all-male group of goose-stepping People’s Liberation Army soldiers handled the Olympic flag.
Chinese soldiers raise the Olympic flag during the opening ceremony at Beijing National Stadium on Feb. 4, 2022, in Beijing. (DeFodi Images/Getty Images)
So, I went on Facebook and posted this: “I love the Olympics, and watch far more than any normal human being should. Last summer, I wrote about how people who skipped the Games missed out on inspiring stories and exciting competitions. But am I the only one finding the Winter Olympics and the coverage joyless?”
In little more than a day, I had well over 100 comments on my personal and professional pages and dozens of other interactions.
Why Such a Strong Response?
“It’s the Olympic spirit in a joyless place,” wrote David Doughtie. That comment was echoed by Gloria Ritchey Rose, who added, “I'm not watching much at all. I think all the knowledge we have about what goes on behind the scenes in China dispels the joy.”
Harsher comments compared holding the Olympics in Beijing to Berlin in 1936. Many readers highlighted the Chinese government’s human rights abuses against the country’s Uyghur Muslim minority, which the U.S. government and many international organizations have deemed a genocide. They also cited China’s overall human rights record, surveillance of participants, the danger of a COVID outbreak, and the possibility that the Olympics could boost China’s international status.
Similar concerns were found among all Americans, according to an Axios Momentive poll of American adults released to coincide with the opening ceremony on Friday, Feb. 4.
In that context, joy was hard to find. NBC faced a tough balancing act in its broadcasts: How to celebrate the athletes while not ignoring Chinese authoritarianism and human rights abuses. The network did a laudable job during the opening ceremony, with Olympics anchor Mike Tirico immediately addressing the genocide and crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong. Analysts and other NBC personnel have continued to address the issues as the coverage continued.
To Boycott or Not To Boycott?
A substantial number of those who commented on my Facebook pages called for a viewer boycott of the Games.
Brandi Mann writes, “I love watching the Olympics as well. However, I am boycotting the CCP [the Chinese Communist Party], so I am not watching or supporting it in any way.” Similarly, Rose Edstrom Saltz says she “will not give the CCP and its lack of humanity a pass,” and Lucy Perdomo says she’s boycotting the Games because the Chinese government’s human rights violations make it “soulless.”
The Axios survey confirms that those feelings are widely shared. It found that more Americans wanted to see the Olympics postponed (34%) or called off (16%) than to have the Games go on as scheduled (47%).
Furthermore, 73% support the U.S. government’s diplomatic boycott of the Games, and 70% disapprove of allowing China to host the Olympics because of its human rights record and its history of limiting free speech. As Sunny McIntosh bluntly writes, “The Olympics should not have been awarded to a country that tortures its own people.”
{Please see my take below on boycotting the Games.}
Fireworks in the shape of the Olympic rings go off over the Beijing National Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest, during the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games on Feb. 4, 2022, in Beijing. (Li Xin/AFP/Getty Images)
To Watch or Not To Watch?
Readers seemed evenly divided on whether they would watch the Games or not. “I love the Olympics regardless of which country they are held in,” Dave Dodson writes. “I’m watching the athletes, not the country.” Cyndie Boros disagrees and asks, “Why are we participating? Why should we support China in any manner?”
A similar split exists across the U.S. Only 45% American adults said they planned to watch some or a lot of the Olympics, according to a Morning Consult poll conducted at the end of January. That’s a big drop from the 55% who said they wanted to watch the 2018 Winter Olympics, but about the same as those who were interested in last year’s Summer Games. However, the latter marked a record low for viewership, as I discussed in a piece last summer.
I have little doubt that these Olympics will get historically low viewership numbers. In addition to the shadow cast by Chinese abuses, COVID-empty arenas, mostly masked athletes, complaints about how athletes and reporters are being treated, and the gilded cage of the COVID bubble that keeps the athletes away from the rest of China are all puncturing the balloon of Olympic excitement.
My Take on the Olympics and Politics
In an ideal world, the Olympics shouldn’t stir up political passions, wouldn’t be used as a political football, and would operate solely as a pure sporting event that’s a celebration of hope and youth.
Of course, that’s wishful thinking. The Games are the only true worldwide multidisciplinary sporting event that gathers thousands of athletes from every corner of the world. As such, the Olympics have gained outsized importance and symbolism.
Unable to resist the grand scale of the Olympic theater, bad actors, from terrorists to dictators and cynical politicians have tried to coopt the Games with attacks, boycotts, propaganda, and protests. Good actors haven’t been able to resist either, often using the Olympics to highlight injustices and governmental abuses.
The International Olympic Committee should have spared us the debate by not choosing Beijing as the Winter Games host. But the decision was made in 2015, not long after the successful 2008 Beijing Summer Games. Also, at that point, the decision may have seemed less objectionable, as it took place before the intensification of human rights abuses against the Uyghurs, the crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong, the increased expansionism in the South China Sea, the constant saber-rattling about Taiwan, and the jump in incursions into Taiwanese airspace (of course, the Chinese government has always been guilty of repression within its borders, including Tibet).
Still, the IOC should have reconsidered Beijing as a venue as soon as reports of the Uyghur genocide emerged. It had plenty of time to come up with a different host.
As an exile from communism myself, I passionately oppose Marxism, the CCP’s authoritarianism (or fascism, as argued by my friend Melissa Chan in an excellent Washington Post op-ed), China’s repression of its people, and the Chinese government’s extraterritorial aggression.
However, I do not think we should have boycotted the Beijing Games.
To those who argue that we should, drawing comparisons to Berlin and Hitler in 1936, I don’t believe these Winter Games are “sports-washing” China’s extremely dirty laundry or propping up President Xi Jinping. If anything, the Olympics are dramatically increasing global awareness of the Uyghur plight and Chinese authoritarianism. And would canceling the Olympics have changed the CCP’s behavior? Not a chance.
Also, where do the tit-for-tat boycotts end? If we follow the boycott rationale to its full and logical conclusion, we should be boycotting all Chinese products, not just the Olympics.
Good luck with that. We are way too dependent on Chinese products, from pharmaceuticals to textiles and technology. Don’t look now, but your closet is full of clothes that were made in China. Are you going to give up your mobile phone? Will your kids be happy without their Xbox or PlayStation? What about companies that are heavily invested in China? Will you stop drinking Coke or going to Universal Studios or Disney World? You also may need to boycott Hollywood productions because studios are so dependent on Chinese box office and investment that you rarely will see a Chinese villain in a film.
Then there are the athletes. Why punish them? As the father of a college tennis player and the brother of a former touring professional, I know firsthand the blood, sweat, and tears involved in developing top-notch athletes. Will we deprive them of their lifelong dreams? What kind of lesson would it teach to pull the rug out from under young people who have worked hard to excel in sport and in life?
Finally, I firmly believe the Olympics have brought major benefits to humanity. Canceling the Winter Games could have killed the Olympic movement, a result that would have a terribly deleterious effect on the world.
So, let the Games go on, even if they are not as joyful as they should be.
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Cover photo: The United States Winter Olympics team enters the Beijing National Stadium on Feb. 4, 2022, during the Games' opening ceremony. (Fred Lee/Getty Images)