His collar turned up against the cold, the head of the International Olympic Committee looked out over the stadium and spoke of the ideals that had brought together athletes from all over the world.
鈥淚n our fragile world, where division, conflict and mistrust are on the rise, we show the world that it is possible to be fierce rivals while at the same time living peacefully and respectfully together,鈥� Thomas Bach, a gold-medalist fencer nearly 40 years ago, said Friday at the
The Olympic mission is clear, he said: 鈥淎lways building bridges, never erecting walls.鈥�
Critics of Bach and the IOC say those ideals are nonsense, and talk of respect and bridge-building is overshadowed by Olympic officials cozying up to some of the world鈥檚 most powerful authoritarian rulers. Starting with holding this year鈥檚 Games in a country accused of widespread human rights violations.
The IOC knows that Beijing has locked up hundreds of thousands of minority Uyghur Muslims, those critics say, and arrested countless people who dared voice criticism of the government.
The IOC鈥檚 鈥渇ailure to publicly confront Beijing鈥檚 serious human rights violations makes a mockery of its own commitments and claims that the Olympics are a 鈥榝orce for good,鈥欌�� Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, said shortly before the Games opened.
Some rights activists are calling these Olympics the 鈥淕enocide Games,鈥� and leaders of a string of democratic nations, including the U.S., Great Britain, Australia and Canada, are avoiding the Games, citing either Beijing鈥檚 human rights violations or its sweeping coronavirus restrictions.
Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping is of fellow strongman leaders, including Russia's Vladimir Putin, who met Friday with Xi before attending the opening ceremony, as well as the leaders of Egypt and Serbia, who were meeting with China's leader on Saturday.
The Games come at a time when democracy can look like it鈥檚 in retreat.
Over the past year there was a military takeover in Myanmar, Beijing鈥檚 tightening grip over Hong Kong and a brutal political crackdown in Nicaragua. There are authoritarian rulers from Turkey to the Philippines.
The IOC rarely mentions any of this.
Bach, for his part, has studiously steered around talk of human rights in China. He did say he would meet Peng Shuai, the Chinese tennis star who largely dropped from sight after accusing a former top Communist Party official of sexual assault, then later insisted she鈥檇 been misunderstood. Bach said she鈥檇 told IOC officials that she 鈥渢hat she can move freely, that she鈥檚 spending time with her family and friends.鈥�
He said he鈥檇 support Peng if she wants an investigation. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 her life, it鈥檚 her allegations,鈥� he added.
Avoiding controversy has long been Bach鈥檚 rule.
鈥淪port must be politically neutral, but sport cannot be apolitical,鈥� he once wrote, threading the phrasing needle so carefully his actual meaning is unclear.
But he knows it鈥檚 a gamble to make a stand on issues like human rights.
鈥淚f we are getting in the middle of tensions, disputes and confrontations of the political powers then we are putting the Games at risk,鈥� he told reporters at a Beijing press conference.
Olympic organizers have a long history with authoritarian rulers, from Adolf Hitler in the 1936 Summer Games in Berlin to Vladimir Putin and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
鈥淭here鈥檚 not a glorious history to look back on,鈥� said Andrew Zimbalist, an economics professor at Smith College who has extensively studied the Olympics.
Take those Berlin Games. By 1936, Nazi antisemitism was blatantly clear, with laws that excluded German Jews from citizenship and banned marriage or sex between Jews and 鈥渃itizens of German or kindred blood.鈥�
Yet the Games went ahead. And two Jewish runners on the U.S. team, Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller, were pulled from the 4-X-100 meter relay squad one day before the race. U.S. officials insisted it had been done to bring in faster runners, but Glickman saw it differently.
鈥淗ere were two rather obscure Jewish athletes who could be kept off the podium so to not embarrass Adolf Hitler,鈥� he said years later in an interview.
Zimbalist says the Olympic Committee is so risk-averse that it鈥檚 tarnishing its reputation.
鈥淭hey pretend that they鈥檙e apolitical even though they make choices that are inherently political,鈥� he said in an interview. They are 鈥済iving a level of approval to the Chinese by hosting the Games there. That鈥檚 a statement.鈥�
He said the IOC can look for ways to speak out on issues like human rights while being careful not to spark a political firestorm.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e been working with the Chinese Olympic Committee. They know the limits (of speaking out) better than you or I,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檇 like to see the IOC testing some of those limits.鈥�
Instead, the committee remains silent, and not just about China.
Putin, for instance, attended the Games' opening even though sports sanctions mean the country鈥檚 team must play as the 鈥淩ussian Olympic Committee鈥� because of a sophisticated doping scheme.
Putin and Xi used their meeting to project themselves as a counterweight to the United States and its allies. China has also been showing growing support for Moscow in its dispute with Ukraine, which has an estimated 100,000 Russian troops massed along its border, a predicament Washington fears could lead to all-out war.
With billions of dollars at stake for the host country, not to mention TV rights and sponsorships, the Olympics can seem as much about money as sports. The IOC is desperate for the Games to remain 鈥渂rand safe,鈥� so that sponsors, some of whom have reportedly paid hundreds of millions of dollars, don't see those investments backfire. These include some of the world's best-known brands, from Coca-Cola to Visa to Toyota. The last thing they want is for their products to be associated with Chinese human rights abuses.
But Christopher Magee, a professor at Bucknell University, noted that the IOC is just one of many players in China鈥檚 immense economy.
鈥淚t鈥檚 fair to criticize them for prioritizing money over humanitarian concerns," he said. 鈥淏ut a lot of firms and countries do that. It鈥檚 hard not to.鈥�
The economies of nearly every nation in the world - including those whose leaders are boycotting these Games - are deeply intertwined with Beijing鈥檚.
And every once in awhile, the IOC does speak up.
Maybe.
Some observers say Bach appeared to make an oblique reference to Ukraine in his opening speech, urging political leaders to 鈥渙bserve your commitment to this Olympic truth: Give peace a chance.鈥�
But if it was a Ukraine reference, it was so oblique that many political and Olympic analysts didn鈥檛 even notice.
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Tim Sullivan has been covering international affairs for The Associated Press for 25 years. Follow him on Twitter at @ByTimSullivan.
Tim Sullivan, The Associated Press
