Translated material
No fire without smoke
IOC President admits the crisis of the Olympic movement
It seems that it has become impossible to deny the connection between the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and big politics. On April 10, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge publicly admitted for the first time that the Olympic movement was in crisis. And the European Parliament voted on the same day to boycott the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.Mr Rogge expressed concern about the ongoing protests surrounding the final stages of the Olympic torch relay. As you know, the last three stages of the Olympic torch relay - in London, Paris and San Francisco - were accompanied by mass demonstrations by activists of the movement in support of Tibetan independence, who tried to reach the Olympic torch and extinguish it. In Paris, the threat to the Olympic flame was so serious that the relay organizers had to extinguish the torch themselves four times and hide it in the bus. The procession of the Olympic torch has so far only taken place calmly in St. Petersburg and Alma-Ata, which is quite natural: in Russia and Kazakhstan it is quite difficult to find supporters of Tibetan independence who are ready to organize street protests against the actions of the Chinese authorities.
But the Olympic torch relay in San Francisco yesterday took place along a changed route. The American leg of the relay could only be seen by passers-by and police officers who guarded the torchbearers along the entire route of the fire. According to random eyewitnesses, the whole ceremony was more reminiscent of a secret operation than a sports race. Immediately after the fire was lit, the relay participants disappeared in an unknown direction. The new route was known only to television companies, but even journalists were allowed to film only part of the race. As a result, only the authorities of San Francisco were satisfied with this stage, since a complete information blockade made it possible to avoid clashes with demonstrators and prevent the riots that accompanied the relay in London and Paris. Also secretly, a torch with fire was delivered to the plane and sent from the USA to Buenos Aires, where the next stage of the race will take place. At the same time, Argentine human rights activists promised that they would not start riots on the day of the relay.
Against this background, Jacques Rogge was forced to admit that the Olympic relay did not become a holiday, as the IOC had planned. In connection with the current situation, the IOC President appealed to the Chinese authorities with a request to look into the facts of human rights violations in the country, which caused predictable irritation of the Chinese leadership. In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu issued a statement saying that according to the Olympic Charter, sports should not be mixed with politics.
The IOC President expressed hope that the crisis of Olympism will be overcome. And, apparently, for the sake of self-comfort, he stated that this was not the first crisis in the history of the Olympic movement. Mr. Rogge recalled the tragedy during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, when terrorists took hostage and killed Israeli athletes, as well as the boycott by some countries of the Games in 1976, 1980 and 1984. At the same time, Jacques Rogge confirmed that at an emergency meeting of the IOC executive committee in Beijing the issue of canceling subsequent stages of the Olympic relay will not be considered.
Yesterday, the European Parliament voted on Thursday to boycott the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing. MPs believe that European leaders should not attend the ceremony unless China begins negotiations with the Dalai Lama to normalize the situation in Tibet. 580 members of the European Parliament voted “for”, only 24 “against”, 45 deputies abstained.
The leaders of the leading Western powers have not yet decided what to do in this situation. In particular, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is not going to attend the opening ceremony of the Games in Beijing, but the British broadcaster BBC, citing a corresponding statement from the Downing Street press service, said that this should not be interpreted as a boycott. On the contrary, the British prime minister will take part in the closing ceremony of the Games, when Beijing passes the Olympic torch to London, where the 2012 Summer Games will be held. French President Nicolas Sarkazy previously also did not rule out a boycott of the Summer Olympic Games. “I am not cutting off any options, but I think it would be more reasonable to leave my reaction to the specific development of the situation,” Mr. Sarkozy replied when asked about the possibility of a boycott. “All options are possible, but I appeal to the sense of responsibility of the Chinese authorities ".
The administration of US President George W. Bush has also not yet decided. White House press secretary Dana Perino said at a regular briefing for reporters that, as far as she knows, the White House has not reviewed plans for Bush's trip to the Olympic Games in China in connection with calls for a boycott. In particular, US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called on Bush to boycott the Games.
In the meantime, IOC President Jacques Rogge called on the heads of national Olympic committees to convince athletes from all countries to support the Olympics in Beijing. He also found an influential ally. The Dalai Lama himself spoke out against the boycott of the 2008 Olympics. At a press conference in Tokyo, he said he did not support supporters of Tibetan independence in their attempts to disrupt the Olympic torch relay, and blessed the Olympic Games.