The Olympics provide many reasons to ignore them. Host China outlaws human rights. The pandemic, despite which the major event is being held. The billionaire business of the organizers. But one important reason not to ignore them remains: the athletes.
Human rights violations, denied freedom of expression, genocide allegations against the totalitarian regime in China. Billion madness for ostentatious Olympic buildings. Absurd power behavior also by the International Olympic Committee IOC. A mega event in the midst of the pandemic. The Winter Olympics in Beijing, which begin on Friday, have been heavily criticized – and rightly so. Is it even appropriate to be happy for athletes, to root for them? Yes absolutely!
Because the Olympians can’t do anything about the circumstances, they didn’t choose the venue, they often find the award to Beijing just as questionable. They see that this billion-dollar event is being pushed through at their expense, that they are also being exploited as the main players and that money is being made with them. Money, not much of which reaches them. Hardly anyone feels an overwhelming desire to travel to Beijing for the games.
Into the Olympic bubble, with all the severe restrictions, isolation from the outside world, daily corona tests, often isolated from one’s own family for days if not weeks beforehand so as not to take any risks. Always with the knowledge in the back of your mind that things can still end badly even in Beijing. You accept it. Because the Olympic Games are the greatest thing you can experience in your career. Often only once, only every four years, training plans are coordinated over the entire Olympic cycle, the symbolic value is enormous.
If you work, you have to earn money, athletes are no different than other people. Bob pilot Johannes Lochner calculates it in the ARD documentary “Spiel mit dem Feuer”: He has fixed costs of 150,000 euros for his team per season. For comparison: German sports aid pays a bonus of 20,000 euros for an Olympic victory, which is far from enough. Competitive sport is expensive, Lochner and Co. have to be able to afford it. For most Germans, this is only possible with the help of sponsors. But they only pay if their athletes have a media presence.
A problem at the Olympics anyway, where personal sponsors of the athletes are almost never allowed to be presented. In addition, the promotion of each athlete depends on results, the more successful, the greater the reward, the classification in the squad promotion. This also applies to the support groups of the German armed forces and police, for example: those who do not perform the required services are transferred to regular assignments according to their own rank.
Why did Christian Neureuther become such a successful ski racer in the 1970s? Because as a young child he watched the recently deceased Heidi Biebl on TV at the 1960 Olympics. That’s what he said on Monday on ARD. Where there are no more idols, none will grow again. A progressive alienation destroys competitive sport. Then there would be no more anger about the billions of madness and allegations against the IOC, but there would also be no more meetings of athletes from all over the world.
Demanding a boycott of athletes is wrong and unjust. They cannot be held responsible for the misconduct of the IOC, for the negligence of politicians, for the systemic problems. They cannot heal what was neglected years ago. They want to do their job, live their dream, fulfill their wishes – and inspire the youngsters for their sport. It is important that the Olympic Games take place despite all justified criticism. The athletes can and should use the stage that their sport gives them. You can’t change the Olympia system, but you can help to ensure that the pressure is so great that it needs to be changed.
