Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/01/13/rule-50.html
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The IOC is going to need to update their creed, “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle unless it offends our sponsors or makes a racist, tin-pot tyrant uncomfortable, in which case you’ll be banned from competition and stripped of your medals.”
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I care so little about the olympics that I joined at least six different petitions to retire Madrid from being an olympic candidate for the past 15 years.
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- Displaying any political messaging, including signs or armbands
The Olympics are going to look really odd without any national flags on display.
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Standing respectfully at times when one might also kneel or raise a fist is also a political act, and so will also presumably be banned.
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Surely you must be refering to the 1936 Olympics?
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I was trying to think of any specific protests that the Olympics would be particularly worried about hurting its bottom line, and it’s China/HK, right? That’s the one they can’t tolerate.
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No, that’s not the case:
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Tinpot tyrantism is trending right now, unfortunately. Who will be the Jesse Owens to Trump’s Hitler?
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That sound good to me. I might even pay attention to the sports without the “we’ve got more medals than you” bullshit.
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Yeah, but I’m talking about what’s on the minds of the Olympic committee now, and I think they’re most worried about China/HK protests. There’s lots of protests that would annoy the Olympics, but the HK stuff has by far the most potential to cost it a lot of money, I think. See, e.g. the NBA and its grovelling to China to apologize for having the nerve to speak up about HK
(the Carlos memoir is really good, by the way, and if you want an interesting if sad detour, the Australian guy on the podium with Carlos & Smith has a hell of a story too)
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Well, they explicitly mention kneeling and fist-raising, which has been a protest against white supremacy. So even there, it’s not just about appeasing China. I’m sure that there is pressure from China as well, but they are not the only states who would oppose having their dirty laundry aired on an international stage like that.
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We’ll have to agree to disagree about our competing speculation on this one. I think the other stuff is annoying to them, but the China stuff is terrifying.
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I’ve not seen anyone say what will happen if someone does protest. They’ll get kicked out? Their medals taken? They won’t be allowed to compete in Olympic events ever again? Draconian responses really increase the power of any protests that still happen, and gets them a lot more attention. It could be worth it to someone who cares more about the message than medals.
But as @Mindysan33 says, they’re specifically targeting every one of the protest gestures that black athletes have engaged in and have become symbolic of those causes. Is there even a pro-HK gesture that anyone could make that would be understood? (All the gestures I’ve seen come out of this set of protests have been highly contextual and borrowed; they wouldn’t be uniquely about Hong Kong in the context of the Olympics.)
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Well, yeah, the IOC is a lot of things, but not idiots. They aren’t going to single out HK protests, and it gives them a lot more cover to suppress it by doing exactly what they did–we’re not targeting HK protests, just look at how we’ve also banned other forms of protest!
Anyway, I certainly wasn’t in the room when the IOC was making this policy any more than you or Mindy, so I’m not pretending I know with certainty, but I do think that international sports are really, really scared of getting on the wrong side of China in just about any capacity and will go to heroic lengths to appease them.
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Wait, so the Olympics is just empty commercial bullshit? Oh no!
quark.gif
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In the interest of compromise, the fascist salute will be allowed.
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No Umbrellas!
Unless someone around here is an IOC member (now that would be interesting) we will probably not find out until the leaks.
I am inclined to believe that your interpretation is correct.
Now I want to see what happens if it rains at a medal ceremony.
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Time to make breathing into a political action.
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