Olympic Boycotts

So whos not going to the opening Ceremony.

German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel has said she will not attend the opening ceremony and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has confirmed he will not attend the opening ceremony but will attend the closing ceremony.

George Bush is still going but at this point all the Presidential candidates (including McCain, has asked him to not attend.

Meanwhile the European Parliament voted on a resolution today calling on "Calls on the EU Presidency-in-Office to strive to find a common EU position with regard to the attendance of the Heads of Government and of State and the EU High Representative at the Olympic Games opening ceremony,"

There has been similar calls in Ireland for Biffo not to attend.

I am glad there are no calls for atheletes to boycott the Games like at the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. These only affect the atheletes and do not impact anyway on the host nation. The olympics only cone once every four years, so they can sometimes be the highlight of an atheletes career.

Maybe the approach should be like the 15 countries, at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, who disagreed with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan that they marched under the Olympic flag, and not their national flag, and the Olympic Hymn was used instead of a national anthem. Or like New Zealand did at the same olympics and use the flag of their NOC (New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association)

This could be the way for NOC's to overcome the moral/ethical dilemma faced by them. Of course everything should be done to sepperate Sport from Politics but the Olympics is one of those events which seams to meld the two as countries put so much time and effort into hosting the games and bidding for the games.

I have therefore decided to join Merkel and Brown and not watch the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

There thats my ethical issue over and done with

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Source:
Provisional Texts of Texts Adopted at the European Parliament, Thursday 10th April (Word Doc)