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Beijing Boycott | Munk Debates

SEASON TWO - EPISODE #30

Beijing Boycott

Be it resolved, today’s China is no place for the Olympics.

Guests
Jules Boykoff 
Richard W. Pound
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About this episode

As if pulling off the world’s signature sporting event in Tokyo this summer during a global pandemic wasn’t challenge enough, the International Olympic Committee is now facing a chorus of voices calling for a boycott of next February’s Beijing Winter Olympics. Politicians from across the political spectrum as well as hundreds of human rights groups say that China’s crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong and the genocide of the Uyghur community violate the fundamental principles of the Olympic charter and that the IOC must preserve the integrity of its mission by calling off the event. They argue that a failure to do so sends the message that the world condones China’s actions, gives the country the international prestige it craves but has not earned, and misses a key opportunity to push for important human rights improvements in the country.

Olympics boosters counter that more than ever the games need to go on: in our fractured world an international gathering of amateur athletes competing at the highest level sets just the kind of example of global cooperation the world needs right now and the Olympics are intended for. They argue that using athletes and the century-old Olympics to pursue geopolitical goals is what flies in the face of the movement’s values, not hosting an event in an undemocratic country. Boycotts punish athletes and destroy their careers with no impact on a host country’s conduct. The Moscow Olympic boycott in 1980 accomplished nothing and a Beijing boycott would be no different.

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Guests

Jules Boykoff 

"China is no place for the Olympics because the extreme human rights abuses in the country, which are crimes against humanity, clash mightily with the principles enshrined in the Olympic Charter."

Jules Boykoff 

"China is no place for the Olympics because the extreme human rights abuses in the country, which are crimes against humanity, clash mightily with the principles enshrined in the Olympic Charter."

Jules Boykoff is the author of four books on the Olympic Games, most recently NOlympians: Inside the Fight Against Capitalist Mega-Sports in Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Beyond (Fernwood 2020) and Power Games: A Political History of the Olympics (Verso 2016). His work has appeared in academic journals like the International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Sociology of Sport Journal, and the International Journal of the History of Sport and outlets like the New York Times, The Nation, the Los Angeles Times, and Asahi Shimbun. Previously, he was a professional soccer player who represented the US Olympic Soccer Team in international competition. He teaches political science at Pacific University in Oregon, USA.

Richard W. Pound

"The location of the Olympic Games is small picture. What the Olympics can do for the world is big picture. It's the largest peaceful gathering on the face of the planet. Let's not throw it away."

Richard W. Pound

"The location of the Olympic Games is small picture. What the Olympics can do for the world is big picture. It's the largest peaceful gathering on the face of the planet. Let's not throw it away."

Richard W. Pound, CC, OQ, CD, QC, FCPA is an Olympian (swimming), former secretary and president of the Canadian Olympic Committee and is currently the longest-serving active member of the International Olympic Committee. He has twice been Vice President of the IOC (1987-1991) and 1996-2000) and has chaired its Television Negotiations, Marketing and Olympic Broadcast Services commissions. He was the Founding President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (1999-2007) and was a member of the WADA Foundation Board from 1999-2020. He chaired the IOC investigation commission that investigated the Salt Lake City bidding scandal and the WADA Independent Commission that investigated Russian doping activities in Athletics. He is an arbitrator at the Court of Arbitration for Sport and serves as an arbitrator at the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada. 

He is a former Chair of the Board of Governors of McGill University and former Chancellor of McGill, where he is currently Chancellor and Governor Emeritus. He is called to the Bars of Quebec and Ontario and is Counsel at Stikeman Elliott LLP, working from its Montreal office. He is a retired Honorary Colonel of the Canadian Grenadier Guards. He has chaired Canada's National History Society, Partnership for aa Drug-Free Canada (now Drug-Free Kids Canada) and the community Foundation of Greater Montreal. He writes extensively on professional legal matters as well as Olympic and historical subjects.

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