olympic-sized questions

Upon us once more is the Winter Olympics — officially the XXIV Olympic Winter Games — in Chinese: 第二十四届冬季奥林匹克运动会— and commonly known as Beijing 2022.

The 2022 Winter Olympic Games will run through February 20th, featuring 15 sports and 109 medal events. While the Opening Ceremony begins on Friday the 4th, the curling and luge competitions actually begin today.

Multiple questions come to mind every four year cycle (or 2, if you combine it with the Summer Olympic Games)… 

What country will take home the most medals?

How will the United States fare?

What underdogs will be surprisingly victorious?

And maybe the most fun… what individual stories will capture the country’s attention?

With all due respect to the 91 participating countries, the approximately 3,000 athletes, and the plethora of coaches, officials and volunteers, with some of the challenges in our current geo-political state, my mind settles on a few questions arguably bigger…

Ukraine has a total of 45 athletes competing in Beijing. Amidst the chaos to the east and northeast, 24 men and 21 women have been preparing to participate — a record number of athletes and a record number of sports for the Eastern European country. 

What happens if Russia invades or carries out a more demonstrable act of aggression while the games are being played?

And how will the Ukrainian and Russian athletes interact with one another? What will they say? What will that be like?

What, too, about Taiwan?

Taiwan will be sending a total of 4 athletes to the games — 1 man and 3 women. Originally, the Olympic team was not intending to partake in either the opening or closing ceremonies, noting hostilities between their country and the games’ hosts. Note, too, the once-planned boycott came after a Chinese official wrongly labeled Taiwan as “Taipei, China” — once again, not recognizing Taiwan as their own team.

China refuses to recognize Taiwan as a separate country. They wish to reunify no later than 2049, with multiple, serious and sobering military actions taking place now, aware of America’s questionable foreign policy approach since Afghanistan; it is thus widely believed China is willing to pursue reunification forcefully, speeding up the process, regardless of the Taiwanese people’s desire. Hence…

How will the Taiwanese and Chinese athletes interact? What will they say? Will they care if next to one another on the medal stand?

Can we recognize Taiwan for who they are? Can we actually, individually, celebrate them?

It’s a series of fascinating questions. Where do we prioritize one thing over another? 

Where do we turn a blind eye?

On a bit of a related tangent, it’s been interesting, too, witnessing the NBA — one of America’s most revenue-producing, professional sports — and how they view sports in China. They make millions in Chinese markets but seem to ignore blatant human rights grievances. Are they addressing racial and ethnic inequalities in all countries? If not, why?

And so we ask since we have from almost day one here: are some things bigger than sports?

I’d like to suppose indeed they are…

So one more “hence”… 

When and why?

Respectfully…

AR