The diplomatic boycott of China, a gesture with no real effect at the Winter Olympics

The diplomatic boycott of Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics decreed by USA It is a political gesture that will have no effect on the development of the competition, which will be held under the same conditions as always for athletes and their teams.

Its only immediate consequence, the absence of representatives of the US government in Beijing during the fortnight of the Games, will be further diluted by the pandemic. The travel restrictions and the bubble format that will be imposed on the participants will significantly reduce the presence of authorities, as already happened at the Tokyo Summer Games last July.

The boycott, supported for the moment only by New Zealand, will mean that no public representative of those countries will be seen in the box of the National Stadium in Beijing when the Games open on February 4, nor on February 20 when they close in the same enclosure, known as ‘El Nido’.

The representation of the United States in both acts will be the responsibility of the members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Of that nationality, currently two, the winner of an Olympic bronze in rowing Anita DeFrantz and the president of the International Tennis Federation, David Haggerty.

There is a New Zealander in the IOC assembly, Olympic runner-up in cycling Sarah Walker.

At the Tokyo Games it was the first lady of the United States, Jill Biden, who led the delegation of her country and participated in some meetings with Japanese authorities and with the Olympic team.

The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and Jill Biden were the most prominent personalities in the box of the Olympic State, where the presence of foreign dignitaries was reduced to a minimum due to the pandemic.

Doug Emhoff, the husband of US Vice President Kamala Harris, led his country’s presidential delegation to the Paralympic Games.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki announced on Monday her country’s diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Games due to “genocide and crimes against humanity that persist in Xinjiang, as well as other human rights abuses” in China.

“Team USA athletes have our full support, and we will be supporting them from home, but we will not contribute to the fanfare of the Games,” the spokeswoman said.

On the day of the inauguration, it will happen that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be in the box, whose country is sanctioned by the IOC to compete without authorities, flag or anthem for its anti-doping offenses.

But Putin can come if he is personally invited by his Chinese counterpart, as has been the case. “I plan to attend,” the Russian leader recently announced.

The Kremlin asked, after learning of the US diplomatic boycott, that sports not be mixed with politics.

Pendientes de Peng Shuai

In recent weeks, the international sports community has also shown its concern about the situation of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, whose status and whereabouts are in doubt since she reported on a social network that she had suffered sexual abuse by former Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, with whom he had a relationship.

The United Nations has asked that the case be investigated and the WTA, the women’s tennis circuit, has canceled all its tournaments in China while the situation is not clarified, although the IOC has held two videoconferences with Peng and assures that he is “apparently well ”.

The IOC’s response to a case involving a three-time Olympic athlete has been considered by the WTA and by some athletes’ associations too tepid and aimed at not disturbing China, an economic and sports ally that will organize the events in two months. upcoming Games.

The Alibaba consortium is a member of the IOC’s TOP sponsorship program, with a long-term agreement signed in 2017 and which will last until 2028 and which was presented at the Davos Forum.

The boycott is skipped

Another aspect in which the Biden administration’s decision does not appear to have interfered is in Salt Lake City’s claim to re-host the 2030 Winter Games.

Members of the candidacy were quick to say that despite the diplomatic boycott of their government, they will travel to Beijing with a small delegation to learn organizational details and gain experience.

“Things in the world come and go. This is a long journey and we are focused on our Games and on bringing to the table the best we can offer to the Olympic Movement, ”said Fraser Bullock, leading the project.

The United States totally boycotted, preventing the participation of its athletes, the 1980 Moscow Games, in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Anita DeFrantz was one of those harmed and even went to court to defend her right to compete, but lost the case. She was eventually vice president of the IOC on two occasions and a candidate for president in 2001.

The Soviet bloc returned the game to the United States with the boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Those in Beijing will be the first Winter Games in which athletes will be able to make gestures of solidarity or social content on the field of play, before the start of the competition or during its presentation, after the change approved in April 2021 by the IOC in rule 50 of the Olympic Charter.

This possibility was already used in the Tokyo Games by the players of the women’s soccer teams of Great Britain, Chile, the United States, Sweden and New Zealand, who knelt on the grass before starting their first matches on Wednesday, such as protest sign against racism.

The United States is the second country in the historical medal table of the Winter Games, behind Norway. He has obtained 305 medals, 105 gold.