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There's quite an interesting discussion on Five Live at the moment about this.
The comparatively recent change of law by Russia is disgraceful, no question. It is a real step backwards and someone needs to give that swaggering knucklehead Putin a good slap. The fact that it has been enacted since being awarded the games is even more deceitful.
Matthew Syed makes a good point about how opinion-formers like Stephen Fry do often expect sacrifice from others (boycotting an event you have been living towards for years and may never get to try again), but without any obvious commensurate sacrifice on their own part. Perhaps Stephen Fry should get his accountant to work out how much he has made from sales of his material to Russia, then donate it to a charity of his choosing?
For the record, I am nearly always pro-Fry. He is clearly a very smart cookie and most often seems to be acting for the greater good.
I might suggest that he runs a Geiger counter over his meals from now on, though. 😉
I wonder what other STWers make of this. Is a boycott the best way? Do you achieve more by competing and winning, then using your position to take a stand?
Boycott all the way if we compete we lend legitamacy to Putin and his regiem and this law . We also expose some of out athletes to prosecution in Russia for being them selves . Winning will not deminish Putin's ability to gain kudos by putting on a successful games and will embolden his repression on a see i can do what i like and they still come way.
I'd rather see the IOC take action. A boycott just seems to be punishing the competitors and in the past seems to have achieved very little.
Yes the IOC should do something, but given that they are second only to FIFA in the 'giving sport a bad name' league, I can't see it happening.
It's all about pats on the back, envelopes in hotel rooms and nights out with dancing girls when it comes to awarding major sporting events to dodgy nations I'm afraid. Moral considerations come a poor second compared to $100,000 US in a Manila envelope and the company of a free hooker for the evening.
Matthew Syed makes a good point about how opinion-formers like Stephen Fry do often expect sacrifice from others (boycotting an event you have been living towards for years and may never get to try again
Moral considerations come a poor second compared to $100,000 US in a Manila envelope and the company of a free hooker for the evening.
So...moral considerations also come a poor second compared to the chance of winning a medal, then?
I suspect Fry has made sacrifices. I thought Syed's point about the unfairness of expecting sport people to boycott events was more powerful. As he said, businesses aren't often asked to boycott places with poor moral standards. But the impact for sports people to miss a massive tournament/games is far greater than a business withdrawing from one market.
Look at it from other way, Russia struggles to increase population, they don't want to give up their culture to modern one. To understand this you need to live there and experience how different society it is, and what would happen if such anti-orthodox changes takes place.
There were as many reasons to boycott London 2012 as there are to boycott Sochi 2014. In the end there will be some platitudes mouthed, maybe a severe finger wagged, and the mad parade will continue as before.
The world's press will there with a lot of attention focussed on the place, that's got to better than boycotting and sweeping it under the carpet.
Moral considerations come a poor second compared to $100,000 US in a Manila envelope and the company of a free hooker for the evening.So...moral considerations also come a poor second compared to the chance of winning a medal, then?
It's probably a much closer call between a moral consideration and the one chance you may have in your life of competing for an olympic medal, something that you've dedicated the majority of your life to and made major sacrifices for already. I do feel sorry for the competitors caught up in all this.
I really cant see what a boycott would achieve.
The IOC have seriously ****ed up in the firstplace awarding the games. However, they could seriously lay it on to Putin in the opening and closing cermony based on their ideals:
The IOC aims to:* mobilise youth for the promotion of the Olympic ideals
* use sport to establish contacts between communities in conflict
* offer humanitarian support in countries at war
* and more generally to create a window of opportunities for dialogue and reconciliation.