Should China Even Be Hosting The Olympics? (A Recap Of 'The Economist's Article)

This is a recap of the very provocative article on ‘The Economist’ this past week: China’s Dash for Freedom.

It was very interesting because the article cuts through the facade and presents an interesting viewpoint; how China’s political and sustainability strategies recently have an underlying theme, quite contrasting to that of the Olympics. It makes one wonder to a certain extent that it is indeed ironic, that China is the host of Olympics this year. 

To provide a flavor about the background of the Olympics, the official motto of the event is the quite inspiring ‘Citius, Altius Fortius".  It means, ‘Faster, Higher and Stronger’ in Latin.  The five interlocking Olympic rings (blue, black, red, yellow and green) represent the global communion of all the five continents in one place. The spirit of the event was originally suggested by De Coubertin, ‘The most important thing is not to win but take part’. The most famous musical theme of the Olympics is Burglar’s dream, originally composed by Leo Arnaud.

At the fundamental level, Olympics can be interpreted as using sport as a conduit, for the celebration of diversity and freedom of human spirit. Hence, human rights and providing a sustainable world for our posterity (i.e. sustainability) are two objectives at the fore front of the event. It is indeed very ironic, that China is the Olympics host this year, when some of its actions have not always been in conjunction with the theme of the event. 

My intention is not to hold China culpable or criticize, for every country that has ever hosted the Olympics throughout history has had its golden and dark moments. My intention is to derive from ‘The Economist’ article … and merely present a case.

Objective: The predominant objective for China is to showcase to the world through this event that they are indeed ready to join the list of Developed countries. ‘One World, One Dream’ is their theme for this global event. But delving deeper … there is also a darker side to every story. 

Human Rights: China’s stance of ‘Human Rights’ have been at best … flexible. The Government is still very ‘Authoritarian’, and more often that not intrudes very much into the human rights issues. Amnesty International

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