Using sport to improve an unfavorable reputation is a method used by several countries where democracy can be questioned.
Over the years, a number of Olympics and World Cups have been awarded to such countries, the decisions to give the football World Cup 2022 to Qatar and the Olympics 2022 to China, for example, have received sharp criticism.
Recently, a report was published in The Guardian that 6,500 guest workers have died in Qatar since the country won the World Cup and in the World Cup qualifiers, the players in Norway, Germany and Denmark have protested by wearing shirts with demands for human rights during the warm-up.
And the U.S. Attorney's Office has already ruled that Qatar paid bribes to win the championship.
Votes are raised for a boycott
And with less than a year to go until the Winter Olympics in Beijing, voices have begun to rise internationally for a boycott of the Games, due to China's violations of human rights.
The editor-in-chief and founder of the site "Idrott & Samhälle" Dan Persson has for many years written chronicles about sports from a societal perspective.
See the clip above where he develops his thoughts around the concept of sportwashing.
CLIP: What is "sportswashing?" - the columnist explains
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Columnist Dan Persson on sportswashing Photo: SVT