When the Olympic Games come to an end, the great anthems are sung. No matter how wonderful or strange the respective sports festival came along. A master of chosen truth is IOC President Thomas Bach. And you ask yourself: Is there really nothing uncomfortable for him?
Was that really Thomas Bach? Was that really the man who, in the normal world, immediately recoils, almost in panic, when he has to say something meaningful about (re)controversial topics? Yes, it must actually have been Thomas Bach, who in the last few days of Beijing suddenly showed himself on the terrain that is actually as nasty to him as a clove of garlic is to a vampire. But before anyone sits down straight in their armchair and marvels, the all clear: With his statements, the 68-year-old has not changed the world order at these Olympic Games.
But the IOC President has at least done (or said) things that you don’t really think he’s capable of. He mixed politics and sport for a tiny moment, thereby breaking the eternal loop of his conviction. He had campaigned for peace and solidarity among the world’s top politicians and in his final speech called for a fair distribution of vaccines. And he actually said something that got him a negative response in Russia.
Now, however, none of these sentences shake the holy throne of the diaper-soft official. Neither his appeal for peace based on the Olympic model nor his criticism of the Queen of Mercy, the cold and merciless figure skating coach Eteri Tutberidze, will make him persona non grata in the powerful circles of the world, which he has long been for many athletes and sports fans. Because of his ignorance of the circumstances. Because the games were awarded to autocratic states.
Don’t look beyond the Olympic bubble
Thomas Bach remains the Lord Pipi Longstocking of the Olympic cosmos. He remains the man who makes the world how he likes it. And in Beijing, where he finished the games on Sunday in the “Bird’s Nest”, he had liked it very much. With his hymn-like thanks to the hosts, one can safely assume that he didn’t let his gaze wander beyond the Olympic bubble. Not where human rights are violated. Not where freedom of expression is restricted and controlled. Not where critical on-site reporting is hindered. Not to where Uyghurs are re-educated in camps. All of these things have either proof or strong circumstantial evidence.
This does not affect the powerful functionary Thomas Bach. Doesn’t it also affect the person Thomas Bach? You don’t know, but it’s hardly foolhardy to say that the 68-year-old isn’t passionate about it. A discrepancy between office and emotions could not be sustained in such a tough and negative way. And so the IOC boss gave the silent “wingman” for the big propaganda show of the Chinese leadership around President Xi Jinping. The drama began with the Uyghur woman Dinigeer Yilamujiang, who served as the final torchbearer at the opening ceremony to shatter all allegations of reprisals against the Muslim minority. Human rights activist Hanno Schedler judged that President Xi had shown the world the “outstretched middle finger”.
And this bizarre spectacle ended with open and aggressive propaganda from the Chinese Organizing Committee. A few days before the fire in the bird’s nest went out, a spokeswoman said that the international reports about “concentration camps” and “forced labor” in Xinjiang were “lies”. The so “apolitical” IOC was silent. Even when the hosts became political in the explosive matter surrounding self-governing Taiwan (“an inseparable part of the People’s Republic of China”). When things get awkward, this man can just turn invisible. Like Pumuckl. It’s also a tricky situation when you court autocrats, give them the power of beautiful pictures and then have to credibly criticize the situation in the country.
Bach as a propaganda advertising medium
Well, looking away and being silent is one thing. Bad enough. But it gets even worse. Namely, to serve the propaganda as a prominent advertising medium. As in the case of Peng Shuai. The tennis player, about whom the international sports world is very worried, presented Bach on the Olympic stage to the delight of the leadership. Look, everything is fine with Peng Shuai. Not only Felix Neureuther, the ARD expert who critically examined the IOC and the hosts in a documentary before the games, found that Bach “bowed to the Chinese system”.
One felt a little transported back to last summer, when the IOC also lacked any sovereignty and clarity in the bizarre case of the sprinter Kristina Timanowskaja from Belarus. The track and field athlete was to be forced by her association to return home against her express will. The story passed as a failed kidnapping. With a tough sanction against the country, the world association did and still has a hard time.
All right, this is the world the IOC lives in. Or want to live. The fact that the frightening images of the apparently doped, desperate and completely overwhelmed Kamila Valiewa, who collapsed under the brutal burden of excessive expectations and doggedly responsible people, publicly incriminated the Lord of the Rings was quite astonishing given this philosophy of life. Because the case of the 15-year-old is still a doping affair in which Russia is once again the focus of global attention.
A small favor from friend Putin
And with it Bach. His time as the most powerful official in the world is overshadowed by the betrayal of this huge sporting nation on the Olympic ideal of fair competition. And his time as head of the IOC is accompanied by a cautious, spongy, even cowardly dealing with Russia. And now? Does it go on like this? In almost hasty obedience, the world association said that Kamila Valiyeva was only an isolated case. Just don’t open the barrel with the poisonous broth state doping again. After years in supposed exile without sanctions, Russia will return to the world of Olympic nations in full glory with anthem and flag at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. However, a cultural change in the sporting nation has not taken place, say observers such as Sarah Hirshland, top US Olympian. Vladimir Putin always did his friend Bach a small favor and triggered open war with Ukraine during the games.
Now Bach will disappear again and won’t reappear anytime soon. He will not be a guest at the Paralympics. Also not a nice, strong, motivating sign to the handicapped athletes. Well, they can look forward to fantastic, extraordinary, excellent games. Organization chief Cai Qi issued this certificate himself. The makers were allowed to use the emotional images (a typical reflex when the competitions are running) of beaming winners, fallen heroes and health dramas during the competitions on the ultra-modern facilities as proof of their self-confidence. The Chinese also saw themselves confirmed in the success of the tough corona measures in the Olympic bubble. In 1.7 million tests (!) only 437 infections had been found in the past four weeks.
The price for this was high. Monetary and mental. A damn lot of money has been sunk at the competition venues for a damn short amusement. Will a World Cup or other major event ever be held on the magnificent 100 million hill in Zhangjiakou or the much more expensive bobsleigh and luge track (allegedly 2.5 billion euros)? The high-tech systems threaten to join the sad Olympic collection of “white elephants”, which are planned without any long-term planning. Because the slopes were cleared and insane amounts of artificial snow were produced in this ultra-arid region, these games were a slap in the face for the environment.
What is Bach actually saying there?
The price was also high for the athletes, the entire teams had to endure almost intimidating, constant surveillance. The massive fences separating the Olympic world from the normal created an almost prison-like atmosphere. And at the latest the emotional reports from athletes (like the bitterly crying Belgian) from the quarantine hotels destroyed the illusion of the “truly extraordinary games” that Thomas Bach experienced and praised. Sure, the days in Beijing were truly extraordinary. But just different than in the all-in-order world of the IOC.
This side of the sports festival manifested the global criticism of China’s choice as the host. Not with Bach. Before the closing ceremony, he had sung a hymn to the hosts. He rated the games as “very successful”. In his summary, he referred to “outstanding performances by the athletes” and an “unparalleled Olympic spirit” among the participants. This is “far above what I’ve experienced at previous Olympic Games”. How well (or not) he was able to rate that can be told by Olympic luge champions Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt. The IOC boss mingled with them Triumph for a photo between the gold heroes, gave them a quick pat on the shoulder and disappeared. When Bach then says in his balance sheet that the athletes were “extremely satisfied” with the village, the sports facilities, the care and security in the bubble, then it seems at least very strange, also in the context of the statements of athletes who only wanted to go home after their competitions.