Boycott the 2022 World Cup, as some Norwegian clubs have suggested? Or the Winter Olympics in Beijing earlier that year in the name of respect for human rights? Very bad idea, according to the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach: “We just have to learn from history. A boycott has never been used for anything, except to punish the athletes ”, he estimated, at the end of March, in response to rising voices, from Norway or Germany.
Now in his sixties, Mr. Bach speaks from experience. Crowned Olympic team fencing champion in 1976, he had to give up defending his title when, four years later, West Germany boycotted the Moscow Olympics. “The boycott of the 1980 Olympics followed the invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR, and Soviet troops left in 1989, nine years later! The boycott was pointless. “
Evoking the boycott in sport brings up hints of the Cold War. “It was a weapon then used in a logic of blocks, strong alliances”, recalls Carole Gomez, research director at the Institute for International and Strategic Relations (IRIS). In 1980, the USSR organized the Games without being able to count on the United States and 65 other nations. Four years later, in Los Angeles, the Soviet Union and seventeen other delegations gave up visiting America. In 1988, six countries (Albania, Cuba, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Nicaragua and Seychelles) joined forces with North Korea in its refusal to compete in Seoul, at its southern neighbor.
“They are not geopolitical analysts”
In the name of sporting neutrality, France took part in each of these Games – with the exception, in the Soviet Union, of the equestrian, shooting and sailing federations. Today, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) remains faithful to this line. Denis Masseglia, its president, says to himself “Categorically against” the idea of a future boycott. It would be, according to him, “Make athletes take on a role which is not theirs and which would make them the only ones punished in the end, the turkeys of the farce.” Or, if some speak of boycott, let it come first from the political, economic and cultural world. But why the sportsmen first? Why ask them to sacrifice their major objective? “.
For athletes who sometimes prepare their entire lives for an Olympic event, finding themselves the flag bearer of a sometimes much larger cause presents some risks. “If they do not understand the subject, it can be slippery for some, estimates Carole Gomez. They are not geopolitical analysts. “
You have 45.58% of this article to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
