StefanMUC

What’s that? Suicide for fear of death? Never in a million years would athletes en masse go for that idea.

This sums up all the relevant aspects nicely: https://www.thenation.com/article/society/beijing-olympics-boycott/

Nah, China will play by the Putin book...wait until after the closing ceremony and then go all-in (probably Taiwan at highest risk now sadly).

As if the timeframe was the real issue....it was a smart move by Rogge at the time to use this as a pretext. The little remaining reputation of the IOC (which basically now is in the hands of making Paris 2024 a success after the - unforeseen - Tokyo crisis and the surely outrageous - in many ways - 2022) will be completely eradicated if they choose Qatar. Whether FIFA (whose boss is now officially facing charges in Switzerland as of today) paints the WC a success (which it will) is completely irrelevant.

If there's anyone with a red alert on, it should be the IOC. From a reputation POV, there are no circumstances whatsoever that anyone in the democratic and enlightened world could accept it if Qatar got the Olympics. Jacques Rogge knew that and he pulled plug while he could. Thomas Bach knows it as well, but he simply doesn't care as long as he can pretend that Qatar would be an excellent host and a great step forward for the Olympic movement etc bla bla.

https://twitter.com/Olympics/status/1286193538640871425 Smart move by the IOC there, nothing better these days to promote memories of a Games held under a fascist regime. Are there any brain cells left in Lausanne?

The people behind this are very serious about it, though more recently the PR company behind this has been much busier promoting some - at least partly - questionable Covid-19 studies that promote less strict measures and faster reopening (short summary, it is all a bit more complex of course). I'm also not too convinced this has got any traction already in terms of widespread political and public support. The scepticism towards Olympics has not waned in Germany, and - again and again - Thomas Bach's role as Godfather of the IOC does not help at all. He's getting VERY bad press here, at least by all serious media, and that of course reflects on any bid. I dare say that as long as he's in power, there's no chance of his home country changing this attitude. His personal ambitions have always been much more important to him anyway.

This is from 2017 AFAIK. Well-intended, but also a bit naive and full of (minor) errors both on facts (hello, two women football tournaments!), as well as linguistics (e.g. call wrestling a "discipline" on one page, and a "sport" on the next), that makes it look great on surface but if you dig into it, it's inconsistent to the point of annoying.

Maybe in the long run, Uighurs and HK will be a bigger (PR) problem for 2022 than Covid-19, if they have a vaccine for that. But yeah, the IOC didn’t care about Human Rights in 2008 and they won’t in 2022. There might be however athletes willing to take a risk and speak up during the Games. That’ll be quite a show then.

Autosuggestion seems to be a big thing in Lausanne. There were some twitter threads about the IOC members praising their "Great Leader" for his willingness to stand again in 2021. This is as much a cult as the current WH (and GOP).

You know, lots of European tradition is indeed based on reactionary and racist foundations. Traditions need to be challenged. There were times, when tradition meant living in a cage or believing burning someone alive would end their witchcraft.

If I were American at this time, I wouldn't want to make jokes about the dictatorship that will host the next Winter Olympics. By the time 2028, you might live in a martial law authoritarian regime yourself (or even already by November 4th if Orangehead doesn't get the results he likes and his sycophants don't stop him).

Lithuania won the voting (jury & televote, mine included) in the German replacement programme last night. Small consolation.

I know. If serving a full term of 8 years, Coates would be 83. This is a pipe dream.

I very much doubt Thomas Bach’s term will already end next year. He’s surely got enough backing for now to extend until 2025, when Coates will be 75. That’s not an age to lead “the youth of the world”.