Who Put Out the Olympic Flame? ... Sports Business

Allowing the Rest of the World to Speak Directly to Americans
Promoting Peace, Diplomacy and Cross-Cultural Understanding.

About Us

Archives

Media Kit

Non-U.S. News Sources

Has Business Killed the Olympic Spirit? …

Expresso, Portugal

Who Put Out the Olympic Flame? … Sports Business

"Is the Chinese regime less brutal today than the Russian regime of 1980? Or, quite simply, is it that the world can no longer live without China, whose capital insures American banks?"

Translated By Brandi Miller

April 14, 2008

Portugal - Expresso - Original Article (Portuguese)

Sport and its international organizations, such as the Olympic Committee, FIFA, the FIA, the ATP and others have become illegitimate transnational powers of sorts.

They are laws unto themselves. They impose their own regulations (sometimes without opportunity for appeal), their commercial interests are without regulation or anti-trust laws to contain them and - as everyone knows - politicians are at their beck and call, they influence decisions and, as a corollary to all this, they are subsidized for the enormous “services” that they provide.

It is for these reasons that the turnaround of leaders at the top of these organizations is so low. One recalls that at the IOC, the predecessor of the current president, who was elected in 2001, was in charge for 21 years!

The IOC decision to select Beijing as the host of this year’s Summer Olympics repeats two similar decisions to host the Olympic Games under dictatorship-regimes: 1936 in Berlin with Hitler; and 1980 in Moscow with Brezhnev.

But if the Berlin games, confronting a rising Hitler, were the biggest up to that point, the Moscow games, before a declining Brezhnev, were widely boycotted, having the fewest participants since 1956, the year in which they were held in the remote city of Melbourne, Australia.

Now, because of the IOC's choice of Beijing, and after the events in Tibet, the Olympic flame must travels protected by police in every city it passes through.

Is the Chinese regime less brutal today than the Russian regime of 1980? Or, quite simply, is it that the world can no longer live without China, whose capital insures American banks? Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

No matter the reason, it’s certain that the commercial interests of the Games is such and the power of sport is so great, that the old maxims of the Baron of Coubertin [Founder of the International Olympic Committee ] cannot be applied in today's world.

The possibility of a new boycott is now confined to the opening ceremonies - which the European Parliament approved almost unanimously (580 votes in favor, 24 against) with the U.N. Secretary General following suit. But a total boycott is dismissed. Because this, in addition to penalizing China, would result in discrediting the IOC, and more importantly, would cause enormous damage to businesses surrounding the Olympiad.

The truth is that the old Olympic flame, having been doused by protesters and requiring police protection, has been extinguished by the convoluted business interests of modern sport.

With or without a boycott, the spirit died years ago.

SEE ALSO:

Xinhua, People's Republic of China

The Hypocrisy of Pelosi
and 'Those of Her Ilk' ...

http://worldmeets.us/xinhuanet000007.shtml

People's Daily, People's Republic of China

Pelosi 'Harms Feelings
of the Chinese People'

http://worldmeets.us/peoplesdaily000052.shtml

The Global Geographic Times, People's Republic of China

Exposing the 'Weak Rib'
of Olympic Politicization

http://worldmeets.us/globalgeographictimes000002.shtml

Wen Wei Po, Hong Kong