Arthur Solomon

The recently completed Tokyo Olympics proved that the hypocrisy of the International Olympic Committee has no bounds.  And that’s a shame because their games are the most important of all athletic events because it brings together the best athletes from 205 countries. 

The IOC’s most recent, at least that I know of, duplicitous decision (other than insisting that the Tokyo Olympics be played during a raging increase of Covid-19 and ignoring the almost 80% of the Japanese public that wanted the games canceled or postponed because of fears that it could be a Covid spreader) was letting the Russian Olympic Team (ROC) compete in the Tokyo games despite Russia being banned from international sporting events until the end of 2022. 

Devising a way to permit Russian athletes to compete in Tokyo was not a surprise because the IOC always looks for way to make totalitarian governments happy. 

Despite Russia being  caught in a state-run doping scandal dating back to the Sochi Winter Olympic games in 2014, the IOC permitted Russian athletes to compete in Tokyo as the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) but said it’s athletes could not use identifying markers like a flag or stand on the podium after a victory while the Russian national anthem was being played, saying in fact that Russia isn’t officially competing in Tokyo as a country, but fooling no one as was evident when journalists referred to winning ROC athletes as representing Russia and Russian athletes wore Russia’s national colors, even though they weren’t permitted to have “Russia” on their uniforms. 

As William Shakespeare wrote in Romeo and Juliet, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" because, as reported in the Wall Street Journal on July 25, Russia’s sports minister Oleg Matytsin agreed with the Bard, saying that the uniform “beyond doubt is associated with our country.” 

“I am sure that all spectators of the Games will understand that these are representatives of Russia,” Mr. Matytsin said. 

And I agree with Mr. Matystin. I'm willing to bet a pocketful of American dollars against a barrel of Russian rubles that most people watching the Olympics don't differentiate between the Russian Federation and the Russian Olympic Committee, including the IOC members. 

Even if the ROC is found to have cheated during the Tokyo games, you can be assured that their athletes will be permitted to compete in the Beijing Olympics beginning next February. As an institution that reports to one, the IOC always finds a way to do what benefits itself, and with the financial help of American broadcasters and sponsors continues to prosper.

(Because of Russian sports officials condoning its athletes use of PEDs, the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland (CAS) banned Russia from international sports until the end of 2022 after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) found it guilty of running a state-sponsored doping program, including substituting clean samples for dirty ones that involved more than 1000 athletes, coaches and sports officials. Clean Russian athletes were allowed to participate in Tokyo under strict guidelines. The IOC said that any deviation from the guidelines could lead to new court cases. But those were just words. Many people who have been involved in the Olympics business don't take them seriously and the IOC’s decisions regarding Russian athletes just add to that cynicism. WADA requested that Russia be banned from international competitions for four years, but CAS decided on a two year suspension, disappointing WADA, perhaps legitimizing Russian participation in Tokyo and next February’s Beijing games.)

But despite IOC’s decision, the aura of doping by Russian athletes still haunted the Tokyo Olympics.

And in a story filed from Moscow, in the August 2 New York Times, reporter Andrew Kramer said a joke making the rounds there is that Russia’s Olympic team competing in unmarked uniforms is “not unlike the Russian Army on its unacknowledged military incursions.”

After claiming a silver medal in the 200m backstroke, American Ryan Murphy said he was “swimming in a race that’s probably not clean."“I’ve got about 15 thoughts, and 13 of them would get me into a lot of trouble,” Murphy said after the race. “It is a huge mental drain to go through the year knowing that I’m swimming in a race that’s probably not clean, and that is what it is. The people that know a lot more about the situation made the decision that they did. I don’t have the bandwidth to train for the Olympics at a very high level and try to lobby the people that are making the decisions that they’re making the wrong decisions.”To be clear, my intention is not to make any allegations, congratulations to Evgeny, congratulations to Luke (Greenbank), they did an incredible job and they are both very talented swimmers who work very hard and have great technique,” Murphy said. (Evgeny Rylov of the ROC won the race.)Greenbank of Great Britain, who took the bronze medal, said, “It’s obviously very difficult not knowing whether who you are racing against is clean, but I think it’s something that’s part of the sport, it’s a frustrating situation but I’ve just got to keep my mind on my race and the things I can control,” he said."

Michael Phelps, a 23-time Olympic gold medalist said, “I can honestly say that throughout my entire career, I don’t know if I ever competed in a clean field.”

People who follow the Olympics know that Russia and its one time East German comrades have a long history of having its athletes play by its own rules by providing them with PEDS to improve their performances. While the IOC shakes its fingers at the dopers it does little of consequence (reminding me of PR agency employee guidelines that are not used against agency favorites.)

But wait, there’s more: In addition to being criticized for allowing Russians to compete, the IOC also was attacked for allowing Javad Foroughi, who won Iran's first gold medal in the men's 10m air pistol to participate. 

Activists quickly revealed that he is a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the governments of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United States.  Foroughi's immediately dedicated his medal to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

A Korean Times article reported that Korean shooter Jin Jong-oh was furious when he arrived at Incheon International Airport. "How can a terrorist win first place (at the Olympics)? That's the most absurd and ridiculous thing," he told reporters.

The IOC is always expected of skullduggery because of their Olympic city selection process, Allowing  Russian athletes (and terrorists) to compete in Tokyo before the expulsion expires at the end of next year is not the way to gain public support. 

What the IOC should do is to stop playing by its own rules and demonstrate that it is a force for good.  

The first thing that they should do is to stop awarding its games to totalitarian governments. It's probably too late to reschedule the Beijing games in 2022, but that should be the last time it awards its games to a country that has no respect for human rights.  Too often the Olympics have been awarded to totalitarian governments who use them as a propaganda tool, as Nazi Germany did in 1936 (both the Winter and Summer Games) during Hitler’s regime; Russia in 1980 and 2014; China in 2008, and the forthcoming Beijing Olympics next February, and Yugoslavia in 1984. Let China be the last dictatorship that is permitted to stage the Olympics.  

To say that politics has no place in sports is delusional. The IOC should stop living in its own fantasy world and stand for human rights and free expression of thoughts by awarding its games only to countries that permit is citizens to have freedom of expression without fear of being jailed or worse. That would make the Olympic Flame a beacon of freedom instead of just a flame that is lit before its athletic events.

But an IOC spokesperson said situations regarding human rights and other political matters should be settled by the United Nations, in effect saying that the IOC will continue to award its games to totalitarian countries regardless of their politics. 

I think that the only way to force such a change is to have democratic countries refuse to participate in Olympic games held in undemocratic ones, And broadcasters and sponsors to stop supporting the games when the Olympics are held in a totalitarian country.

I know that the overwhelming percentage of athletes and their extended sports family disagree with my position, but, in my opinion, holding a sports event is not near the top of the list of things that are important in the world. 

Throughout history, young people who wanted a career in various professions have had their dreams squashed because of events beyond their control. Why should special dispensation be given to some people just because they can jump higher, run faster, and are stronger than less athletic but brilliant individuals who might have helped society if their dreams became reality? 

However, I don’t advise anyone to hold their breath until the IOC declines to award its games to dictatorships. Because in the Olympic World, as in the entire sports universe, the most important aspect is not gold medals, championship trophies, how you play the game or who wins. It’s money.

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About the Author: Arthur Solomon, a former journalist, was a senior VP/senior counselor at Burson-Marsteller, and was responsible for restructuring, managing and playing key roles in some of the most significant national and international sports and nonsports programs. He also traveled internationally as a media adviser to high-ranking government officials. He now is a frequent contributor to public relations publications, consults on public relations projects and is on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He can be reached at arthursolomon4pr (at) juno.com or artsolomon4pr@optimum.net