When the Beijing 2008 summer Olympic Games is drawing near, some figures in the West stirred up trobles or unrest to "politicize" the (Beijing) Olympics. A few individuals with the ulterior motives even forged an open letter with a "signature" by Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the the IOC gave the letter a denial soon after.
At this point, IOC President Jacques Rogge noted that IOC is a sports association, not a political organization. "The role of the IOC is to organize the Olympic Games," Rogge said. "We are a sports association, nor a political organization," nor an association with a request to resolve global issues.
Meanwhile, IOC Vice-President Dr. Thomas Bach, who is also president of the German Olympic Committee, said the Olympic Games, with a heavy responsibility to promote ethnical dialogues, serves as a bridge to narrow the gap rather than a "tall wall" to block ethnical dialogues.
Olympic Games has been a great sport event of humanity. Despite endless wrangle, divergences, antagonism and clashes in human society, athletes meet in a harmonious mood of the great (global) family and engage themselves in friendly contests by the set rule of the games. This represents a very joyous festivity for humanity and a human paradise on the Pure Land and, as part of the bid to defend this special, intrinsic quality of the Olympics, political issues that could lead to disputes should be averted.
Peace symbolizes an eternal hope and idea of the Olympics, and the holy truce or ceasefires enforced during the Games period implies a concrete embodiment of this idea. In a sense, sports games constitute precisely a superb, amazing way to turn violence into peaceful competitions. Although it is hard for the Olympic Games to assume any practical political function, it however will strike root the value of peace, amity and unity into the hearts of the humankind. Only when the Olympics retains its highly pure sports qualities, can it spread its relevant ideas and values wider and better still. Hence, the Olympics should not be cited as a controversial political forum simply for the fear of "poisoning" the Olympic spirit of peace, amity and unity.
There has been one precedent in the Olympiad's 100-year history, which had brought to people displeasure, misfortune or even disasters. During the Seoul Olympic Games in 1988, a Bulgarian athlete was tested positive for doping. I, as a sports reporter to cover the Games in Seoul then, personally witnessed a Western reporter shouted to the athlete with irritation at a press briefing organized by the Bulgarian side, querying him if it was his government to instigate him for the scheme, and the reporter repeatedly told him to confess. Such extreme political hues of that reporter's made those at the site annoying and very unhappy.
Olympiad is after all Olympiad, and it should be taken solely an arena to exhibit the sports spirit and universal brotherhood. To date, there exists a tendency to excessively "commercialize" the Olympic Games, and people are thinking of improving or changing this situation, and it is all the more unnecessary to add burdens for "politicizing" it.
Globally, an unrest originating from "politicizing"the Beijing Olympic Games does not represent the main current, as leaders of numerous nations and many sports organizations around the world have voiced their opposition to the practice of "politicizing" the Games. So we would like to admonish those trouble makers or creators of disturbances sincerely that political, ethical conceit poses a rather harmful attitude, an attitude to give rise to conflicts instead of averting or doing away with them.
By People's Daily Online and its author is desk editor Huang Qing.
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