In ancient Greece, the Olympics were an opportunity for warring states to stop the war, measure their strength in peaceful competitions, and discuss possible cooperation.

The same goals were pursued by Pierre de Coubertin, who revived the Olympic movement at the end of the 19th century.

But from the very beginning, something went wrong. The Olympics, like dozens of other peace initiatives, did not help prevent either world wars or the split of the world into opposing parts, which we still cannot overcome. As a result, sport turned out to be, firstly, very politicized, and secondly, turned into a continuation of the war by other means. As a rule, information warfare, but it happened that blood was shed at the Olympics - I mean the terrorist attack in Munich in 1972.

The United States throughout the 20th century actively fought for hosting the Olympics on its territory and competed with the USSR for the championship in medals. And when it was not possible to compete on equal terms, they announced a boycott. If it were not for the introduction of troops into Afghanistan in 1979, I am sure that the United States would have come up with another reason to attack the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. Fortunately, the superpowers gave each other a lot of reasons. And of course, the USSR could not help but respond in kind, ignoring the Games in Los Angeles in 1984. By the way, the committee for the boycott of the Moscow Olympics in 1979 was created and headed by the State Department. As is now the case with Beijing.

The Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014 was subjected to an unprecedented information attack. It would be interesting to know the total budget of the operation - I believe that it does not fundamentally differ from the costs that Russia incurred to organize the Games. We were criticized for absolutely everything - they say, irreparable damage has been done to the nature of the mountains and the coast, babies and old people are thrown into the streets to build Olympic facilities, the quality of construction is terrible, you can’t live in hotels, roads have washed away, and stadiums are about to collapse, and so on. etc. The stronger was the surprise of foreign and domestic guests of the Olympics, when all this turned out to be a lie.

I also remember the campaign in the English-language media and social networks: Sochi - land of genocide. Like, on the territory where the Olympic facilities are located, the highlanders used to live, whom the Russian Empire partially assimilated, and partially forced to leave for Turkey. Just show me at least one American city that is not a land of genocide. Where are the Indians who lived in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, and so on? Did they have a chance to go somewhere? And Europe, in this sense, also has nothing special to boast of - a bloody redistribution of borders and mass deportations took place until the end of World War II.

The United States and the collective West never forgave Russia for the superbly organized and conducted Olympics in Sochi, organizing an unprecedented doping scandal based on the testimony of the mentally ill Grigory Rodchenkov.

They tried very hard to disrupt the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but they failed - and Russia again showed the whole world real Russian hospitality and the highest level of competition organization.

Actually, even now we do not see anything fundamentally new.

The US is lazy in this sense.

If a technology works, why change it?

China is being attacked in exactly the same way as we were on the eve of the Sochi Olympics: they are accused of various human rights violations, they are calling for a boycott, and they are frightening spectators and athletes with possible problems if they travel to Beijing.

Not surprisingly, our sympathies in this case are on the side of China.

Sports should unite, not divide.

Boycotts and black PR have never helped to solve the problem of human rights in any country in the world.

Sports can and should be out of politics.

I believe that most citizens of the United States and other Western countries do not care at all about China's domestic politics.

From the Olympics, they expect not political scandals, but a sports festival.

And those who have a good memory remember very well how they were lied to about Russia in 2014 and 2018.

Therefore, I am confident that the Winter Olympics in Beijing will allow sports fans outside of politics to demonstrate their unity to the world.

And the US and its satellites like Estonia and others who have declared a "political boycott" will remain in the minority.

And the further, the more the policy of "boycotts", "sanctions" and other restrictions will look more and more marginal.

They themselves are to blame.

The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.