# Should the US (and/or other countries) boycott the winter Olympics? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 19, 2021, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781 "2021-10-19T19:12:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2021, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/82 "2021-10-30T23:20:06Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > In 1976, Canada won no gold medals at all in an Olympics it hosted - a depressingly unique achievement - and at the 1988 Winter Games, incredibly, did the same thing again in Calgary, winning five medals, none gold. That little factoid was an extra credit question I put on last week’s Econ. quiz for my seniors. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2021, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/83 "2021-11-17T19:16:10Z")
The latest on this is the US is toying with boycotting the games from the perspective of sending any officials to the games. So, athletes will go, but no politicians, no high rank or level officials. I guess they still haven’t decided, as yet, on this course, but it seems a possibility. [Here](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/11/16/beijing-olympics-2022-biden-partial-boycott/) is an article on it…the title says ‘Biden administration soon to announce diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics’, so I guess we shall see. I believe the EU and UK are also considering this course of action. I think there is a growing number of protesters on this, as many human rights organizations have joined in putting pressure on nations and organizations to boycott the games, at least to some extent. The thing that happened at the torch ceremony was very embarrassing to the CCP, as well as to the Greek government, especially their reaction. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/84 "2021-12-06T20:39:18Z")
Looks like the US has announced a “diplomatic boycott” of the games. > **[White House announces diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Olympics over...](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna1285419)** > > President Joe Biden was considering the move last month under mounting pressure from lawmakers. I get wanting to do something, but I don’t see what this accomplishes. So a bunch of bigwigs stay home, but the athletes still compete. How does that hurt China in any way? People watch for the athletes. Unless you’re a fan of the Dallas football or basketball teams (and an odd one at that - but their owners do provide a little entertainment value) nobody watches sports to see the people in the stands. This seems like a move that will piss people off with no benefits to be had. What’s the point? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/85 "2021-12-06T20:42:20Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > How does that hurt China in any way? It makes them look bad. Also, watch…I bet a bunch more countries also do a ‘diplomatic boycott’. I had hoped the US would be stronger and actually do a full boycott, but this will actually hurt the CCP at least a bit. And every little bit helps. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/86 "2021-12-06T20:43:55Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > What’s the point? This Washington Post article describes it as: > [@](#): > > …a significant political snub to Washington’s greatest military and economic competitor. China obviously wants the whole event to make them look good, but I have to think that the kinda-sorta-boycott will have no real effect. > **[In pointed snub, no U.S. government official will attend Beijing Winter Olympics](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/us-beijing-winter-olympics-diplomatic-boycott/2021/12/06/1d2e9920-56b1-11ec-9a18-a506cf3aa31d_story.html)** > > The diplomatic boycott does not affect the ability of American athletes to participate in the Games, but it will be seen as a major affront by China. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/87 "2021-12-06T20:46:30Z")
> [@XT](#): > > It makes them look bad. I don’t see how. Not sending our athletes makes them look bad. Not sending Tony Blinken to sit in the stands during the figure skating competition? Meh, I don’t get why anyone would be worked up about that. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/88 "2021-12-06T20:49:18Z")
Because to them, us not sending our officials is a huge slap in the face. You have to understand how the party views this. And then there is the very real possibility that if the US does this, so will other countries. But you might be right. I’ll tell you how we can know if it gets under their skin…if one of their state-run media or one of their wolf warrior diplomat types hit the ceiling about it, of if they just basically ignore it or don’t mention it. If the former, well…THEY will think it’s going to have an effect. If they ignore it then you might be right…they don’t really care. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/89 "2021-12-06T21:52:55Z")
It doesn’t matter if the party is upset. What hurts them is for the people to see very publically that the world disapproves of their behaviour. What also hurts them and the corrupt IOC is the loss of revenue from having Americans and other lose interest in watching the ‘compromised’ games. You can only really do that by boycotting the games entirely. Keeping the leadership home accomplishes nothing, or is maybe worse than nothing. China will just spin this to their people as an example of how uncaring western leaders are, who won’t even show up to cheer their athletes. If I were Xi’s propagandist, I’d use the opportunity to showcase Xi supporting the athletes, cheering in the stands, awarding them extra stuff, whatever. I’d make Xi the biggest Olympics fan ever. And I’d have Chinese newspapers run glowing articles about how much Xi loves the Chinese athletes and how much support they have, followed by stories about the missing Americans and how their athletes have been forced to compete without the support of their leaders. This pseudo-boycott is a politician’s way of ‘doing something’ to placate voters without actually doing something useful, but which might really anger the Chinese. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/90 "2021-12-06T22:02:46Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > It doesn’t matter if the party is upset. What hurts them is for the people to see very publically that the world disapproves of their behaviour. The diplomatic-only boycott could just rally the people behind the party. Never underestimate the “they may be assholes, but they’re OUR assholes” sentiment. Even people who disapprove of their country’s policy are often offended by foreign disapproval. This diplomatic boycott is pointless. China should just shrug it off; they’d be dumb to react much. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/91 "2021-12-06T23:13:04Z")
I wonder if, among NBC’s horrific broadcasts of the Olympics, they will occasionally add irritating commentary, like showing the empty seats where US diplomats were to sit and say stuff like “This is where Tony Blinken was supposed to sit, but under the US’ diplomatic boycott of these Olympics, due to China’s terrible human right record, he is not there…” Can they do that - highlight the cause of the rift and insult the host nation? What can China do, expel NBC and interrupt their broadcasts? China would definitely gain support for that! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2021, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/92 "2021-12-07T01:09:30Z")
Better have that stuff said by the commentators who are still in the US. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/93 "2021-12-08T14:42:32Z")
So, several US allies seem to also be either on the brink or have announced similar boycotts. Thus far, I think only Australia has followed suit, but Japan and the UK, and a bunch of the EU nations are openly discussing it, with the EU saying they will have a coordinated response. China’s prime wolf warrior has already blasted the US over this and has threatened…some sort of nebulous retaliation. The response has been milder than I thought, to be honest, but then I think there are still a lot of countries floating this idea of allowing the athletes to go by not sending any officials. New Zealand isn’t sending any, but they say it’s because of covid virus concerns (though that begs the question as to why they would risk their athletes while not wanting to risk some officials). While I was more for a full boycott, I think that this is going to have an effect if other countries also do a diplomatic boycott. China won’t just be able to shrug it off, though it definitely won’t have the same impact as a full boycott by the US and others would have had. My WAG is we will see a steady ramp-up of condemnation by state-run media outlets and wolf warrior types in the international press (with a full-court press on things like Twitter and Facebook…ironically, all blocked in mainland China) and at home, it will be censored so that it appears nothing is happening…or it’s covered and talks about the insult to The Chinese People(tm…arr). ETA: And in a perhaps unrelated move, the EU has decided to extend sanctions on China (well, several officials and companies/entities) over human rights abuses and keep them on their black list through next year. That is a bit of a surprise, though a welcome one. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/94 "2021-12-08T17:37:23Z")
> [@XT](#): > > China’s prime wolf warrior has already blasted the US over this and has threatened…some sort of nebulous retaliation. Possibly it’ll be that, when next they send people here that we’re interested in hosting, they _won’t_ send people that we don’t actually give a crap about hosting. That’ll sure show us. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/95 "2021-12-08T18:03:31Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Possibly it’ll be that, when next they send people here that we’re interested in hosting, they _won’t_ send people that we don’t actually give a crap about hosting. That’ll sure show us. We care a lot less about this sort of thing than they do, but, yeah, it would probably be something like that. Or like the CCP sanctioning EU PMs in retaliation for the EU sanctioning CCP officials and companies. The big thing on this will be…how many other countries will follow the US’s lead, and how many won’t? If it’s only the US (and Australia) then it will almost certainly not have much of an impact. If the EU, as a whole does this, along with some other countries (the UK, Japan, say, and/or maybe India) then it will be a bigger hit. If essentially no one sends officials except Russia, who has already said they would, and maybe some other China quasi-allies then that will be a huge loss of face. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/96 "2021-12-08T18:12:06Z")
China may get egg on their faces anyway due to the venue not having much in the way of natural snow or the alpine feel most would expect for the Winter Games… > **[A Winter Olympics without snow?](https://www.bbc.com/sport/winter-sports/33747313)** > > Beijing will become the first city to host a summer Olympics and a winter Games, but there are concerns over its climate. The irony of China being a major contributor to climate change, which may harm their coveted games, should not be lost on the broadcasters. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/97 "2021-12-08T20:10:13Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > The irony of China being a major contributor to climate change, which may harm their coveted games, should not be lost on the broadcasters. It shouldn’t be, no…but I doubt they will mention it. To paraphrase from Idiocracy…they likes money. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/98 "2021-12-08T20:17:28Z")
Yep.just as the Women’s Tennis’s association has stood up to the CCP. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/99 "2021-12-08T20:22:35Z")
Thus far they are the only organization to stand up to the CCP over the whole Peng issue. The ITF basically caved in, and the IOC didn’t even have to cave…they were already there. Same with the NBA. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/100 "2021-12-08T20:34:44Z")
Yea, shame on the NBA and Disney etc. About the Athletes…I would be worried about a hostage situation of some sort. What would be the recourse? Why legitimate the CCP? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781/101 "2021-12-08T20:45:13Z")
> [@eenerms](#): > > About the Athletes…I would be worried about a hostage situation of some sort. What would be the recourse? Why legitimate the CCP? Well, I agree with the why legitimize the CCP part…I was for a boycott after all, and a big part of that is I feel that sending folks to these games does legitimize them to an extent. I don’t think we need to worry too much about a hostage-type crisis, though, obviously wrt recent events you never know (ask Canada about this). It’s not outside of the realm of possibility, but I think the risk is pretty small, as this would further erode their image while all the eyes of the world are on them. Still, couple that with the unknown level of their own Covid crisis (they SAY it’s under control and the numbers are small, but…well, their lips are moving, and to me, that’s a key sign they are lying), and I think the US and other should have done a full-on boycott along with some other stuff. But it’s just not to be, so I’m content with the mainly symbolic diplomatic boycott and the maintenance of pressure both by the US and by the EU on what’s going on. I think a lot of people in this thread are underrating how much of an impact even something like this diplomatic boycott will have on them, both on the perception of people outside of China…and those inside China, who, even if the government goes into full blackout on this information-wise will still find out about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-the-us-and-or-other-countries-boycott-the-winter-olympics/952781.md?page=6)