Will you be watching the Olympic Games?

Will you be watching the Olympic Games from Beijing this year?

Many people are boycotting the games in protest of what they see as China’s appalling human rights record.

I must admit that I’m not a big Olympics watcher usually but I’m even less enthused than normal this time around.

I’m certainly not thrilled by the way that politics has been dragged into the equation for the Olympic Games once again but I also realise that no matter where the games are held, someone will be trying to score political points. There isn’t a place on this globe that doesn’t cause questions to be asked about certain behaviours or lack of action on some topic.

No one country has it completely right and so if we wanted to we could find reasons to boycott every sporting event, no matter where it’s held around the world.

While I won’t be watching too much of the games I might just sneak a peak when Cadel Evans jumps on his bike.

Amnesty International is hoping to make the most of the event and use the attention on the Olympics to hold China accountable for its human rights record. They have a comprehensive explanation of their concerns and actions on their site under the title Human rights in China and the Beijing Olympics. They also have a seperate site called The China Debate dedicated to debating the issues where they encourage people from around the world to discuss the

What about you? Will you be watching? Do you think that not watching will achieve anything? Do you think that we should just forget about the politics and focus on the sporting contest? Does holding the games in China help us to shine a spotlight on what’s going on there or do you think that once the carnival leaves town it’ll be business as usual?



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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He previously worked in radio for about 25 years but these days he spends his time at Compassion Australia, working towards releasing children from poverty in Jesus' name.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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12 Comments

  • Funny you should ask this question Rodney! It is exactly what I was discussing on my blog just the other day.

    In contemplating whether to boycott or not I had to think about whether or not a personal boycott would actually achieve much. In the end I decided that I didn’t think it would, so decided instead to donate money to Amnesty International Amnesty will be raising the issue before, during and importantly, after the games. My concern is that once the games are over and the world ‘forgets’ China, even more atrocities might occur, so supporting Amnesty was an easy choice for me.

    So i will be glued to the TV watching the games myself!

  • The games do not have the same meaningful impact they once had, Rodney. Scandal, performance enhancement and money has changed all sports for the worse.

    Here in the States, collage and high-school sports are really taking the center stage because of their purity.

  • Gib, it’s hard to watch any sport these days and be sure that the athletes aren’t doping. It really does take the shine off what should be a very healthy pass-time.

  • There’s no Roy & HG, so why bother? It’s going to be a very boring 2 weeks 🙂 at least there’s still the AFL!

  • You’re right< Paula, the Olympics needs something to lighten the mood, especially this time around. Missing out on Roy and HG will certainly make it less interesting. As for the AFL ... I think I might stick to the local WAFL for the rest of this season. 🙂

  • Hey Rodney. My friends and I watched the opening ceremony on friday night/saturday morning and had a blast making up our own commentary.
    The original idea was to eat chinese takeaway while watching, but we got Thai instead – we figured that would be ok because it was still asian!
    Must admit, i haven’t seen much of the actual games yet – i’ve been catching up on some DVD’s i’ve been wanting to see 🙂

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