Why Should Athletes Carry Our Moral Baggage?
Everyone's least favorite nation is hosting the 2008 World Women's Hockey Championship. The tournament begins Friday in China.
Like the Olympians who will descend on Beijing this summer, hockey players from Canada and the USA are being challenged to defend the road trip.
"There's so many good things about this event that it outweighs the negatives of canceling an event because of a conflict in the world," says Canadian captain Hayley Wickenheiser. "There's so many conflicts right now."
"Being at the Olympics, it can be a political platform, but as athletes we choose to use it as a uniting force rather than a political statement," says American veteran Angela Ruggiero. "We're going to shake hands with all the teams. We're going to interact with countries all over the world."
Ruggiero and Wickenheiser would be forgiven for wondering how the Chinese human rights record landed on their doorsteps. Why do we ask athletes to make real sacrifices - like boycotting or canceling competitions - while the rest of us get by on rhetoric and furrowed brows?
We all wear clothes made in China, outfit our homes and workplaces with Chinese products, and live in economies that benefit from billions of dollars in Chinese trade.
But there hasn't been much talk about trade sanctions or consumer boycotts. So inconvenient! Far easier to use athletes as pawns for our indignation. That way we get to feel righteous without having to do anything.
(Photo: Doug Benc/Getty Images)
Comments
We should have learned from back in the Carter days, boycotting the Olympics to protest the invasion into Afghanistan. It’s not fair to make athletes pay a political price when sports and politics simply don’t equate. This is making someone else pay the price we want to pay - it’s moral irresponsibility, a hypocritical combination. If you want to protest, do it yourself, don’t force someone to do it for you.