Chinese Egg Roll: The Torch Debacle

The Beijing Olympics are getting plenty of press, it’s just not the kind they want or had expected. The symbolic torch running has become a political hot potato and rallied Free Tibet supporters worldwide.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. That’s right; the radical left side of the world. I love the fact that this area is known for its radical thinking. It’s one of the most appealing aspects of living here. Berkeley, or as we know it, Berzerkely, is one of my favorite place, anywhere.

It comes as no great surprise that the Olympic torch is running afoul of protesters in London and Paris, but the protests abroad have been clumsy and threatening. The protests we’ve all seen have been most uninteresting and uncreative. In those elite cities, the protesters set out to block the torch runner or to extinguish the torch, and they achieved a modest level of success.

But here in San Francisco, things are done with a sense of adventure, creativity, and with aplomb. On Tuesday, as the world watched and cringed at the protestations world wide, a well-prepared team of protesters in S.F. calmly, carefully, without disruption or violence, scaled the Golden Gate Bridge and hung Free Tibet banners on the world’s most famous bridge. Call me crazy but there is something very unique and admirable in the way they handled their protest.

I love the Olympics—summer, winter, whenever. I believe in the purity of sports and the ideal of the Olympics, to cast a spotlight on the world’s best athletes and to honor athletic competition. Athletes work their entire lives to reach an Olympics and they deserve to compete without the nasty specter of politics getting in the way.

Ah, but that is unfortunately wishful thinking.

Too often the Olympics are used as a platform for dissent and for political rhetoric. In fact an Olympics without controversy would be as unlikely as an ice hockey pair from Haiti. Sadly, the ideals at the heart of the Olympics have been diminished by politics.

It is after all an opportunity for “prime time” coverage of groups concerns and issues, real or imagined.

I am torn by the entire Olympic torch debacle and the greater debate about the Beijing Olympics and the Chinese government. I want Olympic athletes to have an opportunity to do “their thing.” They have worked hard to represent their country and have sacrificed much to get to an Olympic game. Those selected to carry the torch have been given a unique and wonderful honor, one that should be respected. I don’t agree with the tactic of chasing down torch runners and trying to stop them or to extinguish the flame.

But one has to admit that the Free Tibet issue resonates with many Americans. Freedom is America’s foundation; we offer freedom to all, “send me your tired and your poor.” 

• But should the Olympics, wherever they are held come under such fire?
• Should families be afraid to visit China and attend an Olympic event?
• Should the world be held hostage every time an Olympics takes place?

The world changes, it evolves, the Olympics do not. We seem to forget that politics have often stood in the way of idealism and competition throughout the history of the Olympic Games.