THEGAYUK WINTER 13 /14 Issue 1
COLUMN
OLYMPIC
SHAME
express their views or they can’t
say what they believe, I think is
pretty hypocritical and unfair.
But, you know the fact is, crappy
situations like that have been
happening for a long time. I
think it’s absolutely
embarrassing that there’s
countries, there’s people, that
are intolerant, that are ignorant.’
OPINION
!
By Greg Mitchell
So the IOC is “fully satisfied” that
Russia’s anti-gay law doesn’t
violate the Olympic Charter.
Principle 6 of the Charter says:
"Any form of discrimination with
regard to a country or a person
on grounds of race, religion,
politics, gender or otherwise is
incompatible with belonging to
the Olympic Movement."
!
!
That, of course, is the nub of it.
!
Sexuality isn’t mentioned
specifically (though, in the light of
recent events, it seems clear to me
that it should be), but it is surely
understood within the term
“otherwise”. However, according to
Jean-Claude Killy, chairman of the
IOC Coordination Commission for
Sochi 2014, this only applies to
Olympic territory, not to the
country as a whole. He is satisfied
that there will be no discrimination
of any kind in the Olympic village,
and adds that the IOC doesn't really
have the right to discuss the laws in
the country where the Olympic
Games are organised. Does this also
apply then to any other country
with human rights transgressions?
If that is the case, can we see a time
when the Olympics are taken to
Zimbabwe for instance?
celebrate that event with their
husband or wife because that would
be against Russian law. Is that what
you are saying, Mr Killy? I’m just
asking for a little clarity on the
issue, because clarity is something
that has been sadly lacking. The
only thing that seems clear is that
the IOC will do anything to appease
Putin and the Russians, and very
little to stand up for LGBT rights.
The IOC, and political leaders in
the West constantly talk about
keeping politics out of sport, but
sport is political. I have no doubt
that Putin sees the Olympics in
terms of politics. There was a
time, after the fall of the Berlin
wall, when Russia was losing its
place on the world stage, and
Putin has been intent on winning
that back by whatever means
necessary.
!
The Olympics will be a chance for
him to show off Russian wealth and
power, and he is using them in
exactly the same way Hitler used
the Berlin Olympics back in 1936.
The IOC chose then to ignore all
warnings about what was
happening to Jews in Germany,
and look what happened. In
hindsight that might have seemed
At the recent U.S. Olympic Media
inexcusable, but it was much easier
summit in Park City, Utah, the US
to ignore the warnings back then,
Olympic Committee had briefed
much harder to find the evidence.
athletes, telling them to stick to talk Now it is not. The internet has seen
of sport and duck any issues
to it that, try as they might,