China: A Place Athletes Are Afraid To Go

I thought the Olympic Games are a place that should be a perfect venue for celebration of sport.

A place that should be proud of its scenery, like Albertville, France.

Or a place that should be proud of its state subsidies of sport and healthy lifestyles, like Norway.

Czech athletes are a little afraid to go to China.

Or to be exact they are scared of what might happen to them there.

They are bringing face masks because of smog. And apparently, so are American and Japanese athletes. One of the doctors who will take care of Czech swimmers says that if you stand at one corner outside the swimming arena, you can hardly see the other corner. And: that there is dust on the seats in the bleachers!! There is not a single swimming hall in the world with dust on the seats, I am sure…

And some Czech athletes have applied for exemptions when it comes to DOPING! They will be permitted to use some medication that contains substances that are otherwise illegal. Of course the amounts will be observed closely, so that the athletes do not cross the boundary between this exemption and a misuse of illegal substances.

This is far from normal. For the purpose of this paragraph, “far” means the distance between Beijing and Lhasa.

Many world cities have been denied the Games for reasons that are much less significant than this.

So if China can organize the Games under these smog conditions, I think Switzerland could host shark hunting competition. And that ain’t a mistake.

Beijing beat Toronto, Paris, Istanbul and Osaka.

I might be wrong, but I don’t think there would be many Canadians being escorted from Toronto somewhere to the Northern Territories. Or would the French government transport dissidents, journalists and other troublemakers to, let’s say, Ile du Levant.