Olympian2004 Posted March 1, 2014 Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 Probably the answer to this question is "no, the Olympics are over now", but I asked myself whether host country Russia breaks the Olympic Truce by steering an aggressive course against the new Ukrainian government and sending troops to Crimea. I mean, one has to bear in mind that Sochi still has to fulfill hosting duties with the up-coming Paralympics to which (idealistically) the Olympic Truce should be extended, too. But even if the Olympic Truce for Sochi has lost its validity already, I think it sends a terrible sign if a country that celebrated global unity and peace less than a week ago at the Olympics sort of invades another sovereign country. One even has to ask whether this calls for a boycott of the Sochi Paralympics. I'm truly disgusted by the Putin regime that views Ukraine as its colony - regardless whether Russia gets strong support in the Eastern and Southern parts of Ukraine or not. I think this is a pivotal question - and I also must say that in retrospective, this seriously harms my verdict of the Sochi Games. It seems like a Potemkin village now, like the 1936 Games of allegedly "peaceful" Nazi Germany. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony E Loves Architecture Posted March 1, 2014 Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 Probably the answer to this question is "no, the Olympics are over now", but I asked myself whether host country Russia breaks the Olympic Truce by steering an aggressive course against the new Ukrainian government and sending troops to Crimea. I mean, one has to bear in mind that Sochi still has to fulfill hosting duties with the up-coming Paralympics to which (idealistically) the Olympic Truce should be extended, too. But even if the Olympic Truce for Sochi has lost its validity already, I think it sends a terrible sign if a country that celebrated global unity and peace less than a week ago at the Olympics sort of invades another sovereign country. One even has to ask whether this calls for a boycott of the Sochi Paralympics. I'm truly disgusted by the Putin regime that views Ukraine as its colony - regardless whether Russia gets strong support in the Eastern and Southern parts of Ukraine or not. I think this is a pivotal question - and I also must say that in retrospective, this seriously harms my verdict of the Sochi Games. It seems like a Potemkin village now, like the 1936 Games of allegedly "peaceful" Nazi Germany. Wow. This is genuinely a difficult one. 99 per cent of the time, I don't like seeing boycotts if I'm honest. I don't think there should be a boycott in this situation. The athletes go to these games not for the hosts, but for themselves and their country. Boycotting won't fix anything, and won't improve the situation. Situation in Ukraine = Protesting and Rioting. So if they boycott, they could be mistaken for protesting about protesting if you get what I mean. As the topic states, the situation in UKRAINE, not Russia. Yes, I know Russia are involved, but the main issue lies in Ukraine. Personally, I believe boycotting wouldn't do anyone any favours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympian2004 Posted March 1, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 If the situation in Ukraine escalates any further, I at least deem it highly probable that some or even quite a considerable number of athletes tend to boycott the Paralympics. Remember, we already had the Ukrainian ski runner who didn't want to compete in the women's Olympic slalom last week due to the crisis in her home country. Now that the Paralympic host invades Ukraine the situation is probably aggravated for at least some athletes, especially the Ukrainian ones. This could become an interesting, if not dramatic final week before the Paralympics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOtherRob Posted March 1, 2014 Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 Well, I'm watching the head of the Sochi Organising Committee speaking in Buckinghamshire right now. And at the same time as the flame is in Britain, Cameron has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security council. Very strange juxtoposition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOtherRob Posted March 1, 2014 Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 There's a Russian winter festival in Trafalgar Square with a Sochi mini-cauldron tomorrow. Been planned for a while obviously...but awkward... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikarus360 Posted March 1, 2014 Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 To be honest I think that in a realistic situation, the Olympic Truce is just symbolic and in practice it doesn't really mean anything . I also believe a boycott wouldn't help. If a country should boycott (and to be honest, with good reasons) that would be Ukraine, but I don't know about the rest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zekekelso Posted March 1, 2014 Report Share Posted March 1, 2014 No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markun Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 Well I'm sure Ukraine will not be there. As for other countries, we'll have to see what the coming days bring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petrpetr Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 Yes, I know Russia are involved, but the main issue lies in Ukraine. Hour by hour there is more agression of Russia than Ukraine internal problem. Hard decision but i hope not. Still it needs a word here. Defenitely different than Bach's "the face of a new Russia, efficient and friendly, patriotic and open to the world". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr.bernham Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 I'm personally boycotting, but still it's sad for the athletes whom have worked hard to get there. Seems terrible to prevent them from going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox334 Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 Wow. This is genuinely a difficult one. 99 per cent of the time, I don't like seeing boycotts if I'm honest. I don't think there should be a boycott in this situation. The athletes go to these games not for the hosts, but for themselves and their country. Boycotting won't fix anything, and won't improve the situation. Situation in Ukraine = Protesting and Rioting. So if they boycott, they could be mistaken for protesting about protesting if you get what I mean. As the topic states, the situation in UKRAINE, not Russia. Yes, I know Russia are involved, but the main issue lies in Ukraine. Personally, I believe boycotting wouldn't do anyone any favours. Considering Russia is basically invading Ukrainian territory unprovoked... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ofan Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 Good post Tony! I agree 100%. I can't imagine what it would have been like for the athletes in 1980. Would have preferred if Canada and US took the British and Australian approach, allowing their athletes to attend but under the Olympic flag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLishere Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 Ukraine was one of the participating nations for the Paralympics. I'm extremely curious if anything will happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanMUC Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 Hour by hour there is more agression of Russia than Ukraine internal problem. Hard decision but i hope not. Still it needs a word here. Defenitely different than Bach's "the face of a new Russia, efficient and friendly, patriotic and open to the world". That's what you get when the IOC is bedding with Tsar Vlad. I'm beginning to think he let the Yanukovich drama go on for so long (he probably knew months ago Yanu could not be held in power) to avoid having to "save Crimea" during the Olympics. Now that these are over and the Paras are not really of such global attention, he'll just go ahead with what he wants to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympic Fan Darcy Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 Why don't countries just leave it be and if individual athletes want to be boycott then go right ahead and let them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
world atlas Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 Paralympians has nothing to do with what happening in Ukraine it's just a 10 days sporting event for disabled athletes which unfortunately do not have much media attention worldwide and actually it will be played on 100% artificial snow average temperature looks like North Europe or Canada in the middle of summer today it's 17°C in Sochi and 13°C in Krasnaya Polyana according to this site: http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/Krasnaya+Polyana+Russia+RSXX1418 people forget about this and talking about boycotting for political reasons and for individual boycott .. Why? I will be happy if I find a way to watch the Ceremonies with this lack of interest from media this will be the first and most likely the last Paralympic games held in Russia in our lifetime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympic Fan Darcy Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 Instead of whole countries boycotting which i'm sure will cause troubles between the countries the individuals who feel the need to boycott can do so themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympian2004 Posted March 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 Paralympians has nothing to do with what happening in Ukraine it's just a 10 days sporting event for disabled athletes which unfortunately do not have much media attention worldwide and actually it will be played on 100% artificial snow average temperature looks like North Europe or Canada in the middle of summer today it's 17°C in Sochi and 13°C in Krasnaya Polyana according to this site: http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/Krasnaya+Polyana+Russia+RSXX1418 people forget about this and talking about boycotting for political reasons and for individual boycott .. Why? I will be happy if I find a way to watch the Ceremonies with this lack of interest from media this will be the first and most likely the last Paralympic games held in Russia in our lifetime The theory that sports and politics can be separated is only a mere theory and has nothing to do whatsoever with reality. Sports events are practically always used also for political purposes. That was the case also with the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany which was used by the German government as a big commercial for the country and in some cases also for its politicians themselves. And even more so was/is that the case for Sochi: These are clearly Putin's Games and he makes no efforts to hide that he uses them for his own respectively Russia's political purposes. That's why I'm really stunned how one can seriously ask what the Paralympics have to do with the situation in Ukraine, only a few hundred kilometres away from Sochi, with Ukrainian athletes originally scheduled to participate, and with the host country Russia invading that said Ukraine despite the message of global peace and understanding conveyed also at the Paralympics. Sorry if you view it differently, but I think one simply can't dwell on the snow conditions of Krasnaya Polyana while only a few hundreds kilometres away, the Paralympic host country itself invading another sovereign country and playing with the risk of war. Correction: Sorry if you view it differently, but I think one simply can't dwell on the snow conditions of Krasnaya Polyana while only a few hundreds kilometres away, the Paralympic host country itself invades another sovereign country and plays with the risk of war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Mata Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 No. War in Afghanistan was underway and unauthorized by the UN Security Council by 2002 and Salt Lake Olympics and Paralympics happened peacefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony E Loves Architecture Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 The theory that sports and politics can be separated is only a mere theory and has nothing to do whatsoever with reality. Sports events are practically always used also for political purposes. That was the case also with the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany which was used by the German government as a big commercial for the country and in some cases also for its politicians themselves. And even more so was/is that the case for Sochi: These are clearly Putin's Games and he makes no efforts to hide that he uses them for his own respectively Russia's political purposes. That's why I'm really stunned how one can seriously ask what the Paralympics have to do with the situation in Ukraine, only a few hundred kilometres away from Sochi, with Ukrainian athletes originally scheduled to participate, and with the host country Russia invading that said Ukraine despite the message of global peace and understanding conveyed also at the Paralympics. Sorry if you view it differently, but I think one simply can't dwell on the snow conditions of Krasnaya Polyana while only a few hundreds kilometres away, the Paralympic host country itself invading another sovereign country and playing with the risk of war. Correction: Sorry if you view it differently, but I think one simply can't dwell on the snow conditions of Krasnaya Polyana while only a few hundreds kilometres away, the Paralympic host country itself invades another sovereign country and plays with the risk of war. That is the sad reality that sport and politics can't be separated. Sport and Politics are both interests of mine, but I would love them to be separate. It's wrong for the likes of Putin to use a Sporting event as a way to boost his political propaganda. Bach didn't do any favours either with his speech to be fair. But yes, you are right, sadly the thought of sport and politics being separated is merely a theory, and not a reality. Sport is supposed to be a way out, to bring people together to create fair play, friendship and success, but the likes of Putin don't care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympian2004 Posted March 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 But already the message of sports bringing people together from all walks of life and especially from all countries of the world is a highly political message. Just think of the 204 petals of the London cauldron getting together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOtherRob Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 British MPs and delegation to boycott Sochi Paralympics, says David Cameron. Don't know who was meant to be going on our behalf, but they're not going anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony E Loves Architecture Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 British MPs and delegation to boycott Sochi Paralympics, says David Cameron. Don't know who was meant to be going on our behalf, but they're not going anymore. And Delegation? So we won't have a team, or am I wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOtherRob Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 No, not the athletes, just the politicians and other dignataries who might've attended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony E Loves Architecture Posted March 2, 2014 Report Share Posted March 2, 2014 No, not the athletes, just the politicians and other dignataries who might've attended. Phew. I think Cameron has used the political saga with Russia and Ukraine as an excuse not to go IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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