Olympics and politics are like oil and water

I guess you could call this a continuation from last week's post. I'll say it again so you don't have to scroll down: Political protests at the Olympics only hurts the athletes. It's not an effective way of bringing about changes in policy.

In case you're wondering what all this mess boils down to, it's a complex combination of social, political and environmental issues.

In January, environmental issues and factors were the primary causes for concern for the competing foreign countries' Olympic committees. It has now shifted toward a political and social debate between the People's Republic of China, commonly known as China, and Tibet, an autonomous region in Central Asia, once a Chinese province until a proclamation of independence in 1911.

History has shown that protesting and boycotting the Olympics is futile. Like any good show, the games must go on! The Federation Internationale d'Escrime (International Fencing Federation) certainly plans to attend.

Rene Roch, the president of the FIE, talked to Xinhua about the games and a little about how politics enters the mix.

[T]he Olympic[s] should not be mingled with politics, and people are invited to come to the Beijing Games by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), not only the host country government.

Fencing is going to be represented as strongly as ever at the Olympics; Roch is even planning to appeal to the IOC to add two more fencing events to the Games so that every aspect of fencing is represented.

I'm glad somebody is being sensible about all this. If protesting the Olympics didn't work in 1936 or in 1980, it's not going to work in 2008. Please. If you want to be patriotic, do it by showing support for your country's athletes. Save the politics for the peace talks.