A woman and a boy look at the Beijing 2022 mascots in Beijing. Photo: VCG

Voices calling for a boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games have been on the rise as some Western politicians are calling for athletes to pressure China over issues relating to Hong Kong and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. However, these politicians' attempts to breed resentment seem to not have been successful as more and more people begin to realize that such a boycott will only hurt themselves. 

Earlier this year, US Senator Rick Scott introduced a bipartisan resolution calling on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to "rebid the 2022 Winter Olympics" if China failed to demonstrate "significant progress in securing fundamental human rights" by January 2021.

And lately more and more politicians, mainly from Canada and the US, are calling for a united boycott of the winter sports heavyweights from attending the 2022 Olympic Games. 

No doubt, a no-show by the world's top winter sports athletes from those powerhouses would impair the glamour of the Winter Olympic Games, but even more damage would be done to the athletes. 

Speaking at an IOC Session on Friday, IOC President Thomas Bach said "a sports boycott serves nothing," referring to the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games where Bach, a former fencer representing West Germany, lost a chance to defend his 1976 gold. 

The Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 led to a boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, where only 80 nations and regions participated, the lowest number since 1956.

"It's only hurting the athletes and it's hurting the population of the country because they are losing the joy to share the pride of the success with their Olympic team," Bach said.  

The Soviet army did not retreat due to the boycott instigated by then-US president Jimmy Carter, but stayed in Afghanistan for nine more years. And a revenge boycott was seen in 1984, when Eastern Bloc countries launched a reciprocal action toward the Los Angeles Games in the US. 

China skipped the 1980 Olympics but participated in the 1984 Games.

US Olympic and Paralympic Committee Chief Executive Sarah Hirshland echoed on Sunday that "no athlete should ever have to miss out on the Olympics or Paralympics for political reasons."

"It's abundantly clear in hindsight that the decision to not send a team to Moscow had no impact on the global politics of the era and instead only harmed athletes," Hirshland said on Twitter.  

As Bach noted, "a boycott is against all the Olympic spirit, against all the values we have in sport and what we are standing for in sport," these politicians are only using the Games as a tool for their own political gains.

Anybody who is thinking about a boycott should learn this lesson from history and athletes should also voice their own opinions whether it is worth risking their own four-year efforts for nothing.


Newspaper headline: Boycotting Beijing 2022 will only hurt athletes