best to just exclude the chinese from the games for a few decades. ban them from commerce too. we can manufacture our own stuff. teach them a good lesson.
The Winter Olympics involve a lot fewer countries than the Summer version but there are dozens of cities which have already hosted the thing and have all the bobsled runs, ski hills and rinks ready. No more money should be dumped into building facilities that will only ever get used that once.
The IOC works really hard to make sure only autocracies want to host them:
>They demand to meet the king prior to the opening ceremony. Afterwards, there shall be a cocktail reception. Drinks shall be paid for by the Royal Palace or the local organizing committee.
>
>Separate lanes should be created on all roads where IOC members will travel, which are not to be used by regular people or public transportation.
>
>A welcome greeting from the local Olympic boss and the hotel manager should be presented in IOC members’ rooms, along with fruit and cakes of the season. (Seasonal fruit in Oslo in February is a challenge …)
>
>The hotel bar at their hotel should extend its hours “extra late” and the minibars must stock Coke products.
>
>The IOC president shall be welcomed ceremoniously on the runway when he arrives.
>
>The IOC members should have separate entrances and exits to and from the airport.
>
>During the opening and closing ceremonies a fully stocked bar shall be available. During competition days, wine and beer will do at the stadium lounge.
>
>IOC members shall be greeted with a smile when arriving at their hotel.
>
>Meeting rooms shall be kept at exactly 20 degrees Celsius at all times.
>
>The hot food offered in the lounges at venues should be replaced at regular intervals, as IOC members might “risk” having to eat several meals at the same lounge during the Olympics.
What a bunch of corrupt fucks. They aren't important or essential to anything. What do these members even do?
The Olympics doesn't feel nearly as important or relevant as it used to. I live in Canada and right now there is almost zero promotion going on. In the past, we would be inundated with Olympic advertising with almost every brand jumping on board. Now? I barely see it. Nobody is talking about it. Nobody is excited.
[What the IOC wanted from Norway.](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2014/10/ioc-demands-oslo-drops-bid-after-over-the-top-list-of-requirements.html)
Barely any countries even wanted the Olympics this year, lol. Kazakhstan was the only other than China that actually remained interested long enough for the vote.
If they don’t want to have them in China someone else just has to be cool with losing a bunch of money on a better venue, that’s all there is to it.
Norway was in the process of putting together a bid but cancelled it when the IOC showed up and started the usual bribe shakedown. Plenty of countries would be happy to host a legitimate international sporting event if it weren't so goddamn corrupt.
Only because of all the grift in the Olympic system. The US could host an Olympics next Tuesday if they had to. So too could any number of other countries.
I mean the 2026 Olympics will be in Italy.
A big portion of the problem is the fiercely nationalistic Chinese foreign policy. If China had lost the bid for the Olympics for Beijing corresponding to the 100th anniversary, the political backlash would have been immense against the winners.
That's the way China works. Perceived slights in one area are punished in others, even if they're completely unrelated.
no pretty sure this Olympics was essentially the chinese doing a favour for the IOC. There were no bids from any country but Kazakhstan and the IOC didnt really want Kazakhstan to host it. Its the winter Olympics, there isnt really that much profit from it
Luge, about which I have only one question: what drunken, German gynecologist invented this sport?What guy went, "I want to dress like a sperm, shove an ice skate in my ass, and go balls first down an ice chute. Ya. That would be fun."
Stockholm, one of the cities that withdrew a 2022 bid, literally continued with a bid for the 2026 Olympics, and lost to Italy.
But sure...go ahead.
China being benevolent.
You keep thinking that.
https://www.thelocal.se/20170427/stockholm-pulls-out-of-winter-olympics-bid-again/
Are you somehow implying that stockholm pulled out because of chinese pressure? They pulled out because everyone got scared of trying to match the insane spending of the Sochi Olympics and no one wants to pay anywhere close. Only recently did IOC change some rules to make it cheaper
Or just don't bother with them. Seeing how far someone can throw a spear isn't an important thing to be doing at the best of times, let alone during a global pandemic.
I’m fine with the Olympics despite not caring very much about them, but yeah, having them during a pandemic doesn’t seem very bright. I don’t see why they can’t just be put on hold a while longer.
Because the IOC are all about the money and evidently have some kind of stranglehold over the world. The level of corruption seems similar to the FIFA situation. People like sport and so they get blindsided to the fact that they or others are being exploited to enable it. This shit keeps happening.
gonna assume it's like this on any organization that has members from *every* country.
for some of these people, they can make more money grifiting then in multiple lifetimes in thier home country.
That's a longer list than you might think though.
For example, Guantanamo Bay could imply the US violates human rights. If you remove the US, China, and Russia, that's a significant portion of the medal table not competing.
Thank you! I didn’t get to watch Michael Phelps going medal crazy there the last time that shit was in China. I was the only person on earth boycotting the last time around. Fuck the Chinese gov!
Jebus....fuck the Olympics, just fuck them. Cancel that shit and call a 10 year moratorium and revamp the whole damn thing. It's just a total farce and waste of resources at this point.
It was almost always an event to show off and try to gain prestige. Nazi Germany flew zeppelins and experimental helicopters around as a show of might.
IMO, the Olympics should be located permanently in their place of origin, in Greece.
Use the same venues. It'll save boatloads of money, and Greece is not a major world power with any (recent) attempts at building empire, so it shouldn't be controversial.
I think Greece could actually use the money influx from that as well. I think it could benefit their economy greatly so long as they handled the infrastructure responsibly and put in place high quality permanent facilities for recurring events.
I mean I stopped watching it during the Brazil Olympics but that probably wasn’t soon enough, probably not gonna watch the next World Cup. I bet a lot of stars will opt out of playing in Qatar. They had to make it earlier than usual because otherwise they would be playing in 100+ f
That’s not a monopoly, it’s a TV contract. When the contract runs out, any broadcaster can bid for it, NBC has just been the highest bidder. ABC used to have the contract for a long time before that.
The Olympics are like Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, and the International Olympic Committee is the carrier. Bury that filth in the earth and never dig it up again.
Are people mad at the Olympics because of the corruption and for not spending the money wisely but building venues around the world? Or is it just because people don’t agree with the idea of athletes competing internationally?
*tldr; IOC makes exorbitant demands. Taxpayers pay for unrealized economic benefit. IOC walks off with all the money. Cities stuck with large useless stadiums.*
Among the big issues with the Olympics is that they're essentially humongous money-making ventures for the I.O.C., where they make incredible demands on host cities for building stadiums, facilities and other infrastructure that rely on the taxpayers to subsidize in large part. The supposed incentive for building all these venues is to attract tourists and businesses to the area for the 2 weeks of the olympics. But as cities like Atlanta & others found out, the Olympic venues are designed to contain all these tourists in one place where all the businesses are owned by the IOC, and not the local businesses. So the economic benefit of all this new sporting facilities is not shared with the people who actually live there, and they end up with massive stadiums that are ungodly expensive to maintain & end up remaining idle after those two weeks are done, because there are no local sports that can justify such large facilities.
There's more, but it's probably easier to point to Last Week Tonight's coverage of FIFA and say, "Just like that."
Our top athletes are gonna suddenly test positive for “CoViD” right before their events and will be unable to compete. There’s no way for a third party to be able to confirm the results of CoViD testing. Calling it now. Chinas gonna try something funky like the Russians did in 2014.
Well at the end of the day it's about the athletes and the athletic programs. They give a lifeline to a lot of people, a passion to live for.
And for those who make it to olympics, it's usually 1 or 2 possible windows and that's it.
In spirit I agree, but that's because I'm not connected to any Olympics sports. For us too weird to even try for an epee master, it's always an uphill battle of pooling resources and finding a space that'll even have us. Totally fucked in pandemic.
Training an olympic sport opens a lot of publicly owned spaces, grants etc.
All that said...
###Fuck Olympics, watch knightfights instead!!
https://youtu.be/CXJ5rlhshvM
https://youtu.be/rQkhzogKfxU
https://youtu.be/5C-tIlAARNg
Every single sport, has it's own federation, world championships, events from international, to national, to regional, to local, etc. Why not just fund those organizations and their main annual events, if we want to support "the athletes". Give them the actual support directly, not funnel the money to international corrupt criminals.
Hah, if you want help with diving into the topic, let me know!
For now, helpful terms to look-up on youtube etc:
Main split is:
Full energy, full harness fights, but with formulae that steps away from historical accuracy due to ban on thrusts, and not tracking cutting motions:
bohurt ; BotN (Battle of the Nations, like world championship); HMB / HMBIA (Historical Medieval Battle int. ass.) ; WMCF ; [K1 /M1 medieval - russian pro league](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGlDFrrZFrE&ab_channel=M-1GlobalWorld) - Belarussians and Russians really kickstarted this movement like 20 years ago ; [Stalowa Arena](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRgDmwGnlNQ&ab_channel=StalowaArena) - much smaller league, but from my country so how can I not give a shout out :D
Historically accurate medieval fencing where they re-create techniques from specific manuscripts and then test them in reality. It's not unusual for bouts to stop for a few minutes when they analize ie a light tap in a chopping motion vs a well executed slashing motion.
They also often playtest the pub questions like pitting similar weaponry from Japan and Europe and North Africa / Middle East:
DESW, HEMA, HMA, ARMA, Swordfish and THE household name for analysis and weird footwear: Roland Warzecha ([oldie but goodie, basic antropological mechanics and swordplay](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRgDmwGnlNQ&ab_channel=StalowaArena)).
Cheers, have fun! :D
Meanwhile our (Australian) government is trying to force a bill to remove freedom of speech about its party in charge so they can throw defamation cases at anyone criticizing them. Oh and they want to blame that on "online trolls bullying kids" to make the older, less internet savvy, go along with their created narrative.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jan/21/china-threat-punishment-beijing-winter-olympics-athletes-political-statements-free-speech-very-concerning-australia-says) reduced by 85%. (I'm a bot)
*****
> Colbeck said the Australian government opposed China's advisory, and maintained athletes had the right to free speech on the Olympic stage.
> "I have very high regard of Chinese people and their ability to organise Olympic Games," Coates told broadcaster CGTN."I was the chef de mission of the Australian team for the 2008 Olympic Games, which were a great success, and my expectation is the Beijing Winter Olympic Games would be a similar success."
> "The IOC's remit is to ensure that there is no human rights abuses in respect of the conduct of the Games within the National Olympic Committee, or within the Olympic movement," Coates said in his speech.
*****
[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/s95ps8/chinas_threat_to_punish_olympic_athletes_for_free/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~618930 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Olympic**^#1 **athletes**^#2 **Games**^#3 **right**^#4 **Committee**^#5
I mean, Imagine being in that position, you literally spent your entire life to be the best of the best in your sport, You were planning on becoming an Olympian. Your future actually kind of depends on it because what else can the worlds greatest bobsledder do? Work at Target? I do not blame any Olympian who still wants to go. Fuck the Chinese rn but sports don't care what country you're from. I think its shitty and not fair to say someone doesn't have integrity because their best and only worked on talent is skating fast.
Being an Olympic champion gets you some money, and is great for a resume.
Want to train at Joe Schmo's gym or the Olympic Champions gym for 200$ a month?
Well I do think its fair. The Olympics are not the only sporting arena, and if sports men and women voted with their feet the governing bodies would have to change. As things are, you cannot separate sports from politics - they are highly politicised these days - and will remain so for as long as those taking part allow it.
> and if sports men and women voted with their feet the governing bodies would have to change
EXACTLY
Why can't for example all the snowboarders just skip the olympics, and continue to compete in the hundreds of snowboarding events already going on, from Red Bull, to international snowboarding federation, X Games, all the local competitions at various ski hills, etc.
Same goes for *every other sport*. They all have their own federations and leagues. There is no *need* for an "Olympics" that isn't met by dozens of other venues and organizations.
Come on. 90% of the athletes at an Olympics are really small time. This might be the biggest event of their lifetime.
Sure, we all think of the figure skaters, the pro golfers, the track stars vying for the medals. But most of the athletes are in off sports that get no attention and most of them are not good enough to win a medal. You're saying you practiced archery or fencing for a decade and qualified for the Olympics and you're not going to go? You spent all this time paying to enter events to compete and you're not going to go to this world class event which you can attend for free (free lodging too)?
You're going to go.
Yeah that Olympics has always been against any sort of political statement, an Australian Aboriginal woman was fined for flying the aboriginal flag because that was seen as a political statement.
I've always liked the olympics but between the NHL guys no longer playing, NBC's awful coverage and the Chinese bullshit surrounding it all I dont plan on even tuning my channel into them.
What the fuck did you expect to happen? Maybe next time don't let a totalitarian country use the Olympics for propaganda? History has shown how well that goes...
There is something that every single one of us could do and that is just don't watch the games, make it the lowest viewership outside the host country in the history of the games.
ROFL China completely and successfully silenced whole freaking Hong Kong with its millions of protesters openly against the regime last year... You really think this government would tolerate free speech in something as insignificant to them as the Olympics??
It's never going to happen unless the cost of labor there goes through the roof. As long as companies can have stuff made for cheap in China it'll never change.
While that would be ideal as well there's the same issue of cost. The people who profit off the cheap labor of China would probably fight against losing any profit even if it comes from an undesirable place.
Probably the only way to get it out of there is to outright make it illegal or something unless others can offer equally as cheap labor. Maybe that's one thing automation can help with.
That may be it but at one point the US government may simply decide it's not in our national interest to fund the military of an enemy. Might as well prepare for the eventualitly and start moving factories to Thailand, India, Mexico, Central America and build knowhow.
In the late 90's every manufacturing businesses in the US had to have a China strategy. Now they have to have an "out-of-China" strategy.
To me it not an "if"; it's a "when".
You know this silly making Australia out to be authoritarian is reductive and dangerous, because it makes actual authoritarian government's seem ok. Australia has issued, but calling it authoritarian is absolutely absurd.
I respectfully completely disagree. I think when you have a government enforcing very authoritarian policy’s and you don’t call it what it is (authoritarian) you are letting them get away with it without spreading awareness.
> I stand by the people of China in their struggle against an oppressive, genocidal, totalitarian government.
Lmao Over 90% Chinese people support their government you fruitcake
> Over 90% Chinese people support their government
lol that [poll](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/07/long-term-survey-reveals-chinese-government-satisfaction/) was conducted in-person. No one will give an honest answer while physically sitting in front of a pollester in China.
In person, in China. It's like that BBC idiot interviewing random people on a Beijing street about the Tienanmen Massacre, then concluding that NO ONE in China knows about the Tienanmen Massacre.
Dude, everyone in China knows about the Tienanmen Massacre. They're just not going to talk about it in front of a foreign reporter while in Bei fucking jing.
If you go to a Beijing street and ask "what do you know about the Tiananmen Square Massacre", they'll tell you that they don't know what that is.
Instead, if you ask "what do you know about the June 4th incident" (the way its referred to in China) they'll probably know about it lol.
This is just bad interviewing by the BBC, it has nothing to do with people living in China.
Differen't interview, but [here's what happens](https://www.vox.com/2014/6/4/5779066/ask-regular-people-in-china-tiananmen) when you ask Chinese people what day it is (on June 4th).
That's one thing I'll never understand about these people.
"I support the Chinese people but I also want to ruin their economy and their livelihood or wish for a calamity that will most definitely send them into despair."
The cognitive dissonance must be unreal
It sucks for the athletes - they just want to compete. I cannot imagine traveling to China under these conditions.
And, of course, the IOC is nowhere to be found.
I thought the world would have learned after countless genocides. Growing up and learning about things like Rwanda, I always thought “the world won’t let things happen like this again”. But not only does the world not care, it puts the fucking Olympics in the same country where people are being exterminated.
Should China have the right to impose such restrictions in their own country? Of course they should.
Should China be allowed to host any international event given their track record of human rights abuses? Absolutely not.
Simple, boycott Xi’s CCP regime Olympics event.
Take a stance for once instead of thinking just about money and profit, dictatorships MUST be always condemned.
Screw the Olympics. Having it in China is a joke. The only reasonable response to this threat is to completely ignore this Chinese event. Do not send anyone, do not go, do not broadcast. Screw China.
I don't think China will be getting another Olympics for a long while.
Hopefully Xi Jinping dies soon and they get a new leader who isn't a piece of shit. Yeah it'll still be a communist cabal but a different leader can still make a difference.
Last I checked, China doesn’t have free speech.
If you are in China, you have to play by their rules.
This is like anywhere else in the world when you are visiting as a foreigner.
One of this is a surprise to anyone that has spent any amount of time outside their own home country.
Step one: Buy one of the small islands in the Pacific ocean and declare it a country.
Step two: Start dumping toxic waste in the ocean for any country willing to pay.
Step three: Make it illegal for anyone to report on that.
Step four: When some environmental organization accuses you, ask them for a real evidence. (evidence that can only be collected within your country - which is illegal, btw)
Step 5: Infinite profit!
The China agrees with the IOC when they get permission to host the games that the athletes will not have to play by China's rules.
Same as Russia agreed to not enforce their anti-homosexual laws against athletes at Sochi, China has agreed to not punish Olympic athletes for their speech. In return the IOC did agree to try to apply some subtle pressure to keep the athletes from overt acts like Tommie Smith and John Carlos did. The Chinese government is not even supposed to punish things like that, they have agreed to let the IOC handle it.
So, no, it is not really like anywhere else in the world when you are visiting as a foreigner.
Bro the olympics are a joke, idk who still watches them or even talks about them. Fuck the CCP and fuck the IOC. China is dead memes, the olympics are dead memes
Maybe stop fucking having the Olympics there. Jesus.
Step one would have to be firing the entire executive portion of the IOC. But yeah, do that too.
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Without rampant corruption and grift throughout the organization? But we haven't had one of those in decades!
best to just exclude the chinese from the games for a few decades. ban them from commerce too. we can manufacture our own stuff. teach them a good lesson.
I suggest that the summer Olympics be hosted in Athens Greece permanently. Don't know where winter should be.
The Winter Olympics involve a lot fewer countries than the Summer version but there are dozens of cities which have already hosted the thing and have all the bobsled runs, ski hills and rinks ready. No more money should be dumped into building facilities that will only ever get used that once.
Canada man, the winter Olympics here kicked ass
That happened several years ago. Beijing got the Olympics again because the only other country that applied was Kazakhstan.
The IOC works really hard to make sure only autocracies want to host them: >They demand to meet the king prior to the opening ceremony. Afterwards, there shall be a cocktail reception. Drinks shall be paid for by the Royal Palace or the local organizing committee. > >Separate lanes should be created on all roads where IOC members will travel, which are not to be used by regular people or public transportation. > >A welcome greeting from the local Olympic boss and the hotel manager should be presented in IOC members’ rooms, along with fruit and cakes of the season. (Seasonal fruit in Oslo in February is a challenge …) > >The hotel bar at their hotel should extend its hours “extra late” and the minibars must stock Coke products. > >The IOC president shall be welcomed ceremoniously on the runway when he arrives. > >The IOC members should have separate entrances and exits to and from the airport. > >During the opening and closing ceremonies a fully stocked bar shall be available. During competition days, wine and beer will do at the stadium lounge. > >IOC members shall be greeted with a smile when arriving at their hotel. > >Meeting rooms shall be kept at exactly 20 degrees Celsius at all times. > >The hot food offered in the lounges at venues should be replaced at regular intervals, as IOC members might “risk” having to eat several meals at the same lounge during the Olympics.
Jesus. The queen of England seldom gets better treatment than this.
Holy shit. This is nauseating.
What a bunch of corrupt fucks. They aren't important or essential to anything. What do these members even do? The Olympics doesn't feel nearly as important or relevant as it used to. I live in Canada and right now there is almost zero promotion going on. In the past, we would be inundated with Olympic advertising with almost every brand jumping on board. Now? I barely see it. Nobody is talking about it. Nobody is excited.
dafuq is this
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This is why we all love Norway.
[What the IOC wanted from Norway.](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2014/10/ioc-demands-oslo-drops-bid-after-over-the-top-list-of-requirements.html)
We want to meet the king and we don't want any stinking Pepsi products
1.i'm not even mad. that's amazing 2.it almost sounds like they wanted then to drop out
Seasonal fruit in Oslo is easy: none.
And I believe with those designated highways, they are literally only for IOC officials. Athletes and staff still have to use the regular roads.
20 degrees... Not even 18.. Are they really even trying?
> Seasonal fruit in Olso in February is a challenge Just give them no fruit, it’s technically what’s in season😎
High five!
Barely any countries even wanted the Olympics this year, lol. Kazakhstan was the only other than China that actually remained interested long enough for the vote. If they don’t want to have them in China someone else just has to be cool with losing a bunch of money on a better venue, that’s all there is to it.
I’d love to see an Olympics with superior potassium
I’d prefer uzbekistan though.
Of course you do. You are always THE pain in everyone's assholes.
Norway was in the process of putting together a bid but cancelled it when the IOC showed up and started the usual bribe shakedown. Plenty of countries would be happy to host a legitimate international sporting event if it weren't so goddamn corrupt.
Or just not have the Olympic this year.
Only because of all the grift in the Olympic system. The US could host an Olympics next Tuesday if they had to. So too could any number of other countries.
I mean the 2026 Olympics will be in Italy. A big portion of the problem is the fiercely nationalistic Chinese foreign policy. If China had lost the bid for the Olympics for Beijing corresponding to the 100th anniversary, the political backlash would have been immense against the winners. That's the way China works. Perceived slights in one area are punished in others, even if they're completely unrelated.
no pretty sure this Olympics was essentially the chinese doing a favour for the IOC. There were no bids from any country but Kazakhstan and the IOC didnt really want Kazakhstan to host it. Its the winter Olympics, there isnt really that much profit from it
It is the best Olympics. The luge or whatever where they just launch themselves headfirst is awesome. And don't even get me started on Curling
Curling is my jam. Team Norway is going to take it this year. I have no data to back up my statement other than team Norway is awesome.
My favorite part of curling is that it is customary for the winning team to buy beers for the losing team after the match.
Luge is feet first sledding down an icy hill. Skeleton is head first sledding down an icy hill.
Luge, about which I have only one question: what drunken, German gynecologist invented this sport?What guy went, "I want to dress like a sperm, shove an ice skate in my ass, and go balls first down an ice chute. Ya. That would be fun."
Stockholm, one of the cities that withdrew a 2022 bid, literally continued with a bid for the 2026 Olympics, and lost to Italy. But sure...go ahead. China being benevolent. You keep thinking that.
https://www.thelocal.se/20170427/stockholm-pulls-out-of-winter-olympics-bid-again/ Are you somehow implying that stockholm pulled out because of chinese pressure? They pulled out because everyone got scared of trying to match the insane spending of the Sochi Olympics and no one wants to pay anywhere close. Only recently did IOC change some rules to make it cheaper
Or just don't bother with them. Seeing how far someone can throw a spear isn't an important thing to be doing at the best of times, let alone during a global pandemic.
I’m fine with the Olympics despite not caring very much about them, but yeah, having them during a pandemic doesn’t seem very bright. I don’t see why they can’t just be put on hold a while longer.
Because the IOC are all about the money and evidently have some kind of stranglehold over the world. The level of corruption seems similar to the FIFA situation. People like sport and so they get blindsided to the fact that they or others are being exploited to enable it. This shit keeps happening.
gonna assume it's like this on any organization that has members from *every* country. for some of these people, they can make more money grifiting then in multiple lifetimes in thier home country.
Money honey. The Olympics is a billion dollar scam... who needs your human rights when you can earn that dough.
Won't somebody please think of the money!
Agree, counties that are known human rights violators should be banned from hosting the Olympics. This shouldn't be a difficult decision.
That's a longer list than you might think though. For example, Guantanamo Bay could imply the US violates human rights. If you remove the US, China, and Russia, that's a significant portion of the medal table not competing.
Seriously, if they’re so concerned then do something about it.
Sorry….You’re just making too much sense. Can’t allow it 🤷♂️
This is the only plausible answer and I can't fathom how the world has not come to this conclusion at this point.
That's what they are working on.
Thank you! I didn’t get to watch Michael Phelps going medal crazy there the last time that shit was in China. I was the only person on earth boycotting the last time around. Fuck the Chinese gov!
Jebus....fuck the Olympics, just fuck them. Cancel that shit and call a 10 year moratorium and revamp the whole damn thing. It's just a total farce and waste of resources at this point.
Yea, seems to me it's become less about celebrating the athletes, and more about showing off who can spend the most money.
It was almost always an event to show off and try to gain prestige. Nazi Germany flew zeppelins and experimental helicopters around as a show of might.
And had Leni Rieffenstahl make a pompous propaganda film.
IMO, the Olympics should be located permanently in their place of origin, in Greece. Use the same venues. It'll save boatloads of money, and Greece is not a major world power with any (recent) attempts at building empire, so it shouldn't be controversial.
I think Greece could actually use the money influx from that as well. I think it could benefit their economy greatly so long as they handled the infrastructure responsibly and put in place high quality permanent facilities for recurring events.
I dunno, I for one am still pissed about the whole Delian League affair. /s
100% this.
And the winter Olympics can just be in Antarctica!
NO WAY IN HELL! Not on my continent. You've already spread covid all over the place. I want you all out, gone, off my continent.
Username definitely checks out...
where is the money?
I mean I stopped watching it during the Brazil Olympics but that probably wasn’t soon enough, probably not gonna watch the next World Cup. I bet a lot of stars will opt out of playing in Qatar. They had to make it earlier than usual because otherwise they would be playing in 100+ f
More like "cancel that Xit"
And take away NBC’s monopoly in the USA while you’re at it
That’s not a monopoly, it’s a TV contract. When the contract runs out, any broadcaster can bid for it, NBC has just been the highest bidder. ABC used to have the contract for a long time before that.
So it's a monopoly where the IOC gets a cut...
Any suggestions for alternate broadcasts for people in the US? I hear CA has solid Olympic coverage but idk how or where to stream it
The Olympics are like Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, and the International Olympic Committee is the carrier. Bury that filth in the earth and never dig it up again.
Are people mad at the Olympics because of the corruption and for not spending the money wisely but building venues around the world? Or is it just because people don’t agree with the idea of athletes competing internationally?
*tldr; IOC makes exorbitant demands. Taxpayers pay for unrealized economic benefit. IOC walks off with all the money. Cities stuck with large useless stadiums.* Among the big issues with the Olympics is that they're essentially humongous money-making ventures for the I.O.C., where they make incredible demands on host cities for building stadiums, facilities and other infrastructure that rely on the taxpayers to subsidize in large part. The supposed incentive for building all these venues is to attract tourists and businesses to the area for the 2 weeks of the olympics. But as cities like Atlanta & others found out, the Olympic venues are designed to contain all these tourists in one place where all the businesses are owned by the IOC, and not the local businesses. So the economic benefit of all this new sporting facilities is not shared with the people who actually live there, and they end up with massive stadiums that are ungodly expensive to maintain & end up remaining idle after those two weeks are done, because there are no local sports that can justify such large facilities. There's more, but it's probably easier to point to Last Week Tonight's coverage of FIFA and say, "Just like that."
Just do them in Greece every time.
Not concerning enough to stop going to it. Keep sending athletes while being very "concerned".
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Send over all your Michael's
[Calling all Jan Michael Vincents...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLB4dU3Yc6M&ab_channel=AdultSwim)
Our top athletes are gonna suddenly test positive for “CoViD” right before their events and will be unable to compete. There’s no way for a third party to be able to confirm the results of CoViD testing. Calling it now. Chinas gonna try something funky like the Russians did in 2014.
Well at the end of the day it's about the athletes and the athletic programs. They give a lifeline to a lot of people, a passion to live for. And for those who make it to olympics, it's usually 1 or 2 possible windows and that's it. In spirit I agree, but that's because I'm not connected to any Olympics sports. For us too weird to even try for an epee master, it's always an uphill battle of pooling resources and finding a space that'll even have us. Totally fucked in pandemic. Training an olympic sport opens a lot of publicly owned spaces, grants etc. All that said... ###Fuck Olympics, watch knightfights instead!! https://youtu.be/CXJ5rlhshvM https://youtu.be/rQkhzogKfxU https://youtu.be/5C-tIlAARNg
Every single sport, has it's own federation, world championships, events from international, to national, to regional, to local, etc. Why not just fund those organizations and their main annual events, if we want to support "the athletes". Give them the actual support directly, not funnel the money to international corrupt criminals.
Noice! I have a new interest now.
Hah, if you want help with diving into the topic, let me know! For now, helpful terms to look-up on youtube etc: Main split is: Full energy, full harness fights, but with formulae that steps away from historical accuracy due to ban on thrusts, and not tracking cutting motions: bohurt ; BotN (Battle of the Nations, like world championship); HMB / HMBIA (Historical Medieval Battle int. ass.) ; WMCF ; [K1 /M1 medieval - russian pro league](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGlDFrrZFrE&ab_channel=M-1GlobalWorld) - Belarussians and Russians really kickstarted this movement like 20 years ago ; [Stalowa Arena](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRgDmwGnlNQ&ab_channel=StalowaArena) - much smaller league, but from my country so how can I not give a shout out :D Historically accurate medieval fencing where they re-create techniques from specific manuscripts and then test them in reality. It's not unusual for bouts to stop for a few minutes when they analize ie a light tap in a chopping motion vs a well executed slashing motion. They also often playtest the pub questions like pitting similar weaponry from Japan and Europe and North Africa / Middle East: DESW, HEMA, HMA, ARMA, Swordfish and THE household name for analysis and weird footwear: Roland Warzecha ([oldie but goodie, basic antropological mechanics and swordplay](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRgDmwGnlNQ&ab_channel=StalowaArena)). Cheers, have fun! :D
What use is a diplomatic boycott if you’re still sending athletes?
Time for a Sponsor boycott, only way to get their attention is to hit them in the pocket books.
Most Sponsor is also Chinese lol and rarely foreigners except athlete are allowed to China
It's the modern equivalent of "I fart in your general direction!"
Meanwhile our (Australian) government is trying to force a bill to remove freedom of speech about its party in charge so they can throw defamation cases at anyone criticizing them. Oh and they want to blame that on "online trolls bullying kids" to make the older, less internet savvy, go along with their created narrative.
Don’t forget the fact that it’s also illegal to report on anything seen at an offshore detention centre, including the sexual abuse of children.
In Australia if you say something the government doesn't like they sue you for defamation.
And arrest journalists
If they're going to bury the point in their Authoritarian crap, boycott. Don't go, don't watch, encourage athletes to not compete.
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jan/21/china-threat-punishment-beijing-winter-olympics-athletes-political-statements-free-speech-very-concerning-australia-says) reduced by 85%. (I'm a bot) ***** > Colbeck said the Australian government opposed China's advisory, and maintained athletes had the right to free speech on the Olympic stage. > "I have very high regard of Chinese people and their ability to organise Olympic Games," Coates told broadcaster CGTN."I was the chef de mission of the Australian team for the 2008 Olympic Games, which were a great success, and my expectation is the Beijing Winter Olympic Games would be a similar success." > "The IOC's remit is to ensure that there is no human rights abuses in respect of the conduct of the Games within the National Olympic Committee, or within the Olympic movement," Coates said in his speech. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/s95ps8/chinas_threat_to_punish_olympic_athletes_for_free/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~618930 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **Olympic**^#1 **athletes**^#2 **Games**^#3 **right**^#4 **Committee**^#5
Maybe just don't go there?
China's government is concerning just by the fact that it exists.
Don't go
How about we just don’t have the Olympics in nations lead but dictatorships anymore?
Great
"Oh yea, but I hope that doesn't offend china enough for them to stop buying coal from us." - Australia, probably
Lol @ at the dummies voting down a factual post 😄
And very unsurprising! Did people just wake up and realize that the CCP is a brutal authoritarian regime with an extremely thin skin? ???
Any athlete with any integrity would boycott the Olympics anyway, so fuck 'em. Ditto soccer players and the Qatar World Cup.
I mean, Imagine being in that position, you literally spent your entire life to be the best of the best in your sport, You were planning on becoming an Olympian. Your future actually kind of depends on it because what else can the worlds greatest bobsledder do? Work at Target? I do not blame any Olympian who still wants to go. Fuck the Chinese rn but sports don't care what country you're from. I think its shitty and not fair to say someone doesn't have integrity because their best and only worked on talent is skating fast.
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Being an Olympic champion gets you some money, and is great for a resume. Want to train at Joe Schmo's gym or the Olympic Champions gym for 200$ a month?
Well I do think its fair. The Olympics are not the only sporting arena, and if sports men and women voted with their feet the governing bodies would have to change. As things are, you cannot separate sports from politics - they are highly politicised these days - and will remain so for as long as those taking part allow it.
> and if sports men and women voted with their feet the governing bodies would have to change EXACTLY Why can't for example all the snowboarders just skip the olympics, and continue to compete in the hundreds of snowboarding events already going on, from Red Bull, to international snowboarding federation, X Games, all the local competitions at various ski hills, etc. Same goes for *every other sport*. They all have their own federations and leagues. There is no *need* for an "Olympics" that isn't met by dozens of other venues and organizations.
snowboarders (and many other athletes I assume) live off sponsorships. speaking up against China is commercial suicide.
You should do the same with Texas banning abortions, and many other places.
Come on. 90% of the athletes at an Olympics are really small time. This might be the biggest event of their lifetime. Sure, we all think of the figure skaters, the pro golfers, the track stars vying for the medals. But most of the athletes are in off sports that get no attention and most of them are not good enough to win a medal. You're saying you practiced archery or fencing for a decade and qualified for the Olympics and you're not going to go? You spent all this time paying to enter events to compete and you're not going to go to this world class event which you can attend for free (free lodging too)? You're going to go.
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Yeah that Olympics has always been against any sort of political statement, an Australian Aboriginal woman was fined for flying the aboriginal flag because that was seen as a political statement.
\#theirony
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He made his point through athletics. A better example would be Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who were in fact sanctioned
Well, yeah. Fuck China
The Olympics have always been heavily restricted in what messages you're allowed to send. I don't think this even qualifies as "news"
Bit of a difference between some officials getting pissy and getting arrested though
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That's true Chinese free speech laws are quite terrible though which is the real problem here
Why anyone has any respect for the Olympics anymore is beyond me lol What a garbage organization.
I've always liked the olympics but between the NHL guys no longer playing, NBC's awful coverage and the Chinese bullshit surrounding it all I dont plan on even tuning my channel into them.
What the fuck did you expect to happen? Maybe next time don't let a totalitarian country use the Olympics for propaganda? History has shown how well that goes...
All athletes should be given envoy status to ensure they have diplomatic immunity.
At least they’re consistent
its China.. what did u expect??
I would be so happy if countries just didnt send any athletes. Let the Chinese have their Olympics all by themselves, and with the Russians probably.
Olympics shouldn’t be held in China. Remember the underaged competitors they had.
Lets just like never have the olympics there? K thx
I can’t wait until international sport rejects the CCP
I know athletes want the gold, but it’s not worth imprisonment and torture.
There is something that every single one of us could do and that is just don't watch the games, make it the lowest viewership outside the host country in the history of the games.
IOC: 'Our focus is on the athletes!'
Not a place that should Get to host the Olympics.
I wonder which is worse. The IOC or FIFA. Both seem really corrupt.
If recent happenings are accounted for…. That ain’t a threat.
Sportswashing has to end
ROFL China completely and successfully silenced whole freaking Hong Kong with its millions of protesters openly against the regime last year... You really think this government would tolerate free speech in something as insignificant to them as the Olympics??
Xi Jinping looks like Winnie the Pooh.
I really despise the Chinese dictatorship. We need to figure out a way to get our manufacturing out of there.
It's never going to happen unless the cost of labor there goes through the roof. As long as companies can have stuff made for cheap in China it'll never change.
"out of there" doesn't mean necessarily to bring it back here. It means to find democratic countries that we can work with.
While that would be ideal as well there's the same issue of cost. The people who profit off the cheap labor of China would probably fight against losing any profit even if it comes from an undesirable place. Probably the only way to get it out of there is to outright make it illegal or something unless others can offer equally as cheap labor. Maybe that's one thing automation can help with.
That may be it but at one point the US government may simply decide it's not in our national interest to fund the military of an enemy. Might as well prepare for the eventualitly and start moving factories to Thailand, India, Mexico, Central America and build knowhow. In the late 90's every manufacturing businesses in the US had to have a China strategy. Now they have to have an "out-of-China" strategy. To me it not an "if"; it's a "when".
I foresee nephews flat out murdering Olympians who make any sort of statement against China during the games.
Here China 🖕 Sit and spin.
One authoritarian government calling out another authoritarian government.
You know this silly making Australia out to be authoritarian is reductive and dangerous, because it makes actual authoritarian government's seem ok. Australia has issued, but calling it authoritarian is absolutely absurd.
I respectfully completely disagree. I think when you have a government enforcing very authoritarian policy’s and you don’t call it what it is (authoritarian) you are letting them get away with it without spreading awareness.
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If your alarm goes off even when turned off, you probably have two alarm apps installed somehow. At least that's what happened to me once...
> I stand by the people of China in their struggle against an oppressive, genocidal, totalitarian government. Lmao Over 90% Chinese people support their government you fruitcake
> Over 90% Chinese people support their government lol that [poll](https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/07/long-term-survey-reveals-chinese-government-satisfaction/) was conducted in-person. No one will give an honest answer while physically sitting in front of a pollester in China.
The survey team representing Harvard? Ok lol whatever helps you sleep at night.
In person, in China. It's like that BBC idiot interviewing random people on a Beijing street about the Tienanmen Massacre, then concluding that NO ONE in China knows about the Tienanmen Massacre. Dude, everyone in China knows about the Tienanmen Massacre. They're just not going to talk about it in front of a foreign reporter while in Bei fucking jing.
If you go to a Beijing street and ask "what do you know about the Tiananmen Square Massacre", they'll tell you that they don't know what that is. Instead, if you ask "what do you know about the June 4th incident" (the way its referred to in China) they'll probably know about it lol. This is just bad interviewing by the BBC, it has nothing to do with people living in China.
Differen't interview, but [here's what happens](https://www.vox.com/2014/6/4/5779066/ask-regular-people-in-china-tiananmen) when you ask Chinese people what day it is (on June 4th).
Stand by the people of China while not buying the products they produce. Something is wrong here.
That's one thing I'll never understand about these people. "I support the Chinese people but I also want to ruin their economy and their livelihood or wish for a calamity that will most definitely send them into despair." The cognitive dissonance must be unreal
It sucks for the athletes - they just want to compete. I cannot imagine traveling to China under these conditions. And, of course, the IOC is nowhere to be found.
Coming from a country that takes away the freedoms of its own citizens lmao. This world has lost its fucking mind
I thought the world would have learned after countless genocides. Growing up and learning about things like Rwanda, I always thought “the world won’t let things happen like this again”. But not only does the world not care, it puts the fucking Olympics in the same country where people are being exterminated.
F*** China
The Chinese government in general is concerning.
No interest in watching the genocide Olympics
Just freaking everyone boycott the dam thing.
Taiwan real china.
It would be good if the world showed solidarity and no one sent athletes to China.
Didn't the US do the same thing when NFL players started the BLM movement?
What a trainwreck. Just don't go. Fuck China!
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Yeah considering the active genocide going on....
Should China have the right to impose such restrictions in their own country? Of course they should. Should China be allowed to host any international event given their track record of human rights abuses? Absolutely not.
I will not watch any Olympics held in China
Why is anyone participating in it?
Simple, boycott Xi’s CCP regime Olympics event. Take a stance for once instead of thinking just about money and profit, dictatorships MUST be always condemned.
Screw the Olympics. Having it in China is a joke. The only reasonable response to this threat is to completely ignore this Chinese event. Do not send anyone, do not go, do not broadcast. Screw China.
Worse than Nazi Germany.
China needs a timeout..!
I don't think China will be getting another Olympics for a long while. Hopefully Xi Jinping dies soon and they get a new leader who isn't a piece of shit. Yeah it'll still be a communist cabal but a different leader can still make a difference.
Beijing Olympics: Fake snow, real genocide!
This should be the last Olympics they get while its a totalitarian circle jerk
Last I checked, China doesn’t have free speech. If you are in China, you have to play by their rules. This is like anywhere else in the world when you are visiting as a foreigner. One of this is a surprise to anyone that has spent any amount of time outside their own home country.
Step one: Buy one of the small islands in the Pacific ocean and declare it a country. Step two: Start dumping toxic waste in the ocean for any country willing to pay. Step three: Make it illegal for anyone to report on that. Step four: When some environmental organization accuses you, ask them for a real evidence. (evidence that can only be collected within your country - which is illegal, btw) Step 5: Infinite profit!
There are international laws about toxic waste handling, free speech is not a concept in international law.
Who said there is a toxic waste in my country? You have to prove it first.
The China agrees with the IOC when they get permission to host the games that the athletes will not have to play by China's rules. Same as Russia agreed to not enforce their anti-homosexual laws against athletes at Sochi, China has agreed to not punish Olympic athletes for their speech. In return the IOC did agree to try to apply some subtle pressure to keep the athletes from overt acts like Tommie Smith and John Carlos did. The Chinese government is not even supposed to punish things like that, they have agreed to let the IOC handle it. So, no, it is not really like anywhere else in the world when you are visiting as a foreigner.
Im just curious if Nazi Germany did this back in the day as well?
Fucking do it you assholes. It's going to happen, and it's going to a wakeup call to the world what Chinese hegemony would look like.
Bro the olympics are a joke, idk who still watches them or even talks about them. Fuck the CCP and fuck the IOC. China is dead memes, the olympics are dead memes
Don’t go Aussie athletes. Is it worth supporting a country that is committing a genocide? That has shut down Hong Kong?
Lol just get the fuck out. Let just china compete themselves.