The Olympics must return to Greece

Those who are anti China say we should boycott the Beijing Olympics, citing the case of Tibet, human rights violations, and bad air in Beijing. Meanwhile, China is treating the Olympics as if the games were its coming out party.

It’s time the Olympics returned to Greece for good. When the Olympics took place in Greece, from 776BC to about 396AD when the Christian Emperor Theodosius abolished the games, the Greeks never boycotted the Olympics, stopping all conflicts between them before and during the games. In fact, in 480BC, the Olympics went ahead even while the invading Persians were burning Athens.

In contrast, no Olympics took place during World War I and II. After those wars, boycotting the games has never been too removed from becoming a weapon of one state against another, especially if one of them is hosting the Olympics. In 1980, for example, the United States and several other countries boycotted the Moscow Olympics because the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan.

The 2004 Athens Olympics showed the world that, despite the exigencies of the post 9-11 world, the games in Athens were exemplary, the best in modern times. Greece has now the infrastructure for the Olympics but, even more than the facilities for the games, Greece has the history and the affection for the Olympic Games because Greece gave birth to them.

Under Greek leadership, the Olympics will slowly resume its real purpose of being a noble effort of inspiring the world’s youth with athletic virtues and hopes for a better and more peaceful world. In fact, the ancient Greeks’ Olympic tradition of a truce during the Olympics ought to become a rule in international law forbidding conflict during the games.