On Tuesday lunchtime, when Thomas Bach asked the executive of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for a three-afternoon virtual session, the IOC president had said everything he saw as essential to the news from Washington.

The diplomatic boycott that Joe Biden had his spokeswoman Jen Psaki announced on Monday afternoon was "a political discussion," said Bach of the German Press Agency: "The IOC is politically neutral on this issue too." At the meeting of the executive branch The “Report XXIV. Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022” was the third item on the agenda.

Christoph Becker

Sports editor.

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The - no longer surprising - announcement by the President of the United States that the state would ignore the Winter Games in Beijing from February 4th to 20th in order to set an example against the "ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang as well other human rights violations ”by the hosts, while the American athletes are supported in the competitions from home, this“ purely political discussion ”, to which Bach says nothing, is for the Chinese hosts of the games the attempt by the Americans to“ politicize the sport ”.

The balance of power in the IOC

Does Yu Zaiqing see it that way too? Bach's Vice President, one of four, served as Vice Minister for the General Administration of Sport for China's government between 1999 and 2011, parallel to membership in the IOC, in its executive branch and also in a leading position in the preparation of the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. On the day that the diplomatic boycott of the Americans was pronounced and the Chinese responded, just as unsurprisingly, with the evergreen of the politicization of sport, Yu Zaiqing is perhaps the person whose parallel career in the state and IOC best shows, as well as individuals benefit from the politicization of sport. At the same time, Yu Zaiqing reflects the balance of power in the IOC: At the moment, nobody from the United States is in its executive branch.

And in Germany, in Europe? "Human rights violations in China are definitely an issue for us as a sports umbrella organization," said Thomas Weikert, the new President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation. "We have been in contact with human rights organizations and politics since the beginning of the year" - in order to be able to inform the German Olympic participants. The diplomatic boycott is "a ball that is in the playing field of politics, which we accept and respect".

Maximilian Klein, responsible for international sports policy at Athleten Deutschland, told the FAZ that the diplomatic boycott was "a signal against the disastrous human rights situation in the country and made it clear that the Chinese government should not be offered a platform for their propaganda purposes". The US decision was "a resounding slap in the face for the IOC and its irresponsible awarding practice". In future, the international community of states must work towards ensuring that “international sports organizations like the IOC finally fulfill their human rights responsibility in the world of sport and that such situations do not repeat themselves”.

Reinhard Bütikofer, Member of the European Parliament for the Greens, pointed out on “Deutschlandfunk” that, to the best of his knowledge, no politicians have been registered at all and the deadline for registering a visit via the German Olympic Sports Confederation has already passed.

"At the moment it is apparently the case that nobody from Germany who represents our country diplomatically will go to the Olympics (sic) in Beijing."

"Crimes must not be normalized"

14 days ago, Bütikofer referred to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung about the decision of the European Parliament from the summer calling for a diplomatic boycott. "The athletes who have trained for the Olympics for years cannot and should not be made a target of criticism, as much as I particularly appreciate those who express themselves critically," Bütikofer said in the last week of November as himself the American move was already clearly evident. Politicians would send the “wrong signal of appeasement” by participating: “That is why I am in favor of a diplomatic boycott. The crimes against humanity on the part of the leadership of the People's Republic must not be normalized. "

The way the Chinese government dealt with tennis player Peng Shuai did not play a role in the justification for the diplomatic boycott. Thomas Bach defended his behavior in the Peng Shuai case in the dpa interview. In this “humanitarian case” he will “maintain contact” beyond the winter games. Which also means: The planning for the Winter Games in Beijing continues unaffected by the case - according to the ideas of the IOC, which essentially coincide with those of the Chinese government.

Juan Antonio Samaranch junior, head of organization on the part of the IOC, had already noted in November that the hosts kept their promise of 300 million new winter sports enthusiasts - and based on the information provided by the Chinese.

Incidentally, on Wednesday the IOC executive also discussed Bach's plan called “Olympic Agenda 2020 + 5”.

Part of this is the comprehensive human rights strategy, for which the IOC has received recommendations since March 2020.

When will it be implemented?

At least not until after the Beijing Games.