Usbek & Rica – Winter Olympics 2022: why the United States chose a diplomatic boycott

« The presence of an official representation of the United States would mean that these games are an event like any other. “, Justified during her speech the spokesperson of the White House Jen Psaki. Gold, ” in view of the gross human rights violations and atrocities committed by the People’s Republic of China in Xinjiang, we simply cannot [cautionner] that ». « We have a fundamental commitment to promote human rights, she added, referring in particular to the degradation of public freedoms in Hong Kong and the military threat that the Xi Jinping regime continues to pose to Taiwan. We are firm in our position and will continue to take steps to advance human rights in China and elsewhere. »

What is the objective of this boycott?

This boycott will not be total, however. It is for this reason that we speak of a diplomatic boycott and not a full boycott. Admittedly, no representative of the American government will be present at the opening and closing ceremonies (scheduled for February 4 and February 20, 2022 respectively in the Beijing National Stadium), but American athletes will be able to participate, as usual, in the trials. According to Jen Psak, he would indeed ” not been fair »To penalize American athletes who have been training for this event for years.

In the past, however, several acts of full boycott have already taken place, including by the United States. In 1980, under the aegis of President Jimmy Carter, Washington thus decided not to send any athlete to the Moscow games, to protest against the invasion of Soviet troops in Afghanistan. Same radical decision on the part of the Athenians a few thousand years earlier, in 332 BC, when they challenged a fine imposed on one of their pentathlon athletes, Caloppos, for cheating.

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