Olympics: Fair play, solidarity and fraternity

Primastuti Handayani ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 04/19/2008 12:24 PM  |  Headlines

When Baron Pierre de Coubertin restored the Olympic Games in 1894, he dreamed of building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sports, without discrimination. More than a century later, his dream has not been fully achieved.

With the 29th Olympic Games only four months away, organizer Beijing is facing boycott threats from world leaders -- mostly from attending the opening ceremony -- due to the Chinese government's violent handling of recent unrest in Tibet, which claimed numerous lives, and the world's low opinion of China's human rights record.

International Olympics Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge has criticized the threats, saying boycotting the opening ceremony would only hurt the athletes. Rogge also said political leaders were free to decide whether to boycott the Games, adding that if they did boycott, it "would not harm the quality and the success of the Games because the Games are about the athletes".

This is true. We must remember the Olympic motto of "Citius, Altius, Fortius", which means faster, higher and stronger. The motto is an encouragement to athletes always to perform better.

It was a relief when 205 national Olympic committees unanimously promised to reject any boycott and condemned political meddling in sports.

Participating athletes are also expected to live up to the Olympic Charter, which bans any kind of "demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda" in any Olympic venue.

Boycotts are not a new issue for the Olympics. We remember how 62 countries, led by the United States, boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games as a protest against the Soviet Union's intervention in Afghanistan. Four years later, the Soviet-led bloc boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics.

Such actions, however, go against the values of the Olympic movement. In 1991, the IOC called for an Olympic Truce for the Olympic Games, with its first project to accommodate athletes from the disintegrating Yugoslavia.

Former United Nations secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali said that "Olympism is a school of democracy. In other words, there is a natural link between the ethics of the Olympic Games and the fundamental principles of the United Nations".

The UN proclaimed 1994 as the International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal and commended the Olympic Movement for its ideal to promote international understanding among the youth of the world through sports and culture.

Since this proclamation, the next three Olympics have been staged peacefully, with the media back to focusing on world records, doping issues and the hosts' success in staging the Games. However, this year is an exception.

China is eager, perhaps overly so, to ensure the Olympics are a success, particularly with Beijing being just the third Asian city to host the quadrennial event.

The hosts have made numerous efforts to deal with air pollution, press freedom and other issues. China has built incredible venues -- including the landmark Beijing National Stadium, more popularly known as the Bird Nest, and the Beijing National Aquatics Center -- to welcome the Olympics despite criticism that construction of the venues has displaced thousands of families.

But the country has faced other issues not related to the Olympics. Chinese policies on Tibet, Darfur (Sudan) and Myanmar have received the harshest criticism. Pressure has increased for Beijing to end the violence in Lhasa and engage in a dialogue with Tibet. The Chinese government has yet to respond to these calls.

Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg stepped down as an artistic director for the opening ceremony because of China's policies in Sudan. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu has asked China to play a greater role in Myanmar peace efforts.

The Olympic torch relay has faced problems since its initial ceremony in Athens, with many of the world's major cities having to organize massive security details to protect the torch from protesters.

Jakarta will limit the torch relay, to be held on April 22, to inside the Bung Karno Sports Complex in Senayan for fear of protests over political issues. How can the public be aware of the upcoming Olympics if they cannot see the torch being carried along the city's major thoroughfares?

These issues will not go away if China stubbornly refuse to compromise with the world's demands.

It is also important for the IOC members to refer to the committee's fundamental principles and De Coubertin's early mission to make the Olympics an educational project.

Former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch told the 1995 UN General Assembly that Olympic education is based on fair play, solidarity and fraternity.

"To change the world requires a transformation of people, and it is most certainly that the philosophical role of sport comes into play ...."

So, the question for all the countries participating in the Olympics, including China, is will they or won't they take part in efforts to create a peaceful and better world, as imagined by De Coubertin all those years ago.

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