“If someone plays Hamlet…”
Thomas Bach irritates with a strange comparison
2/3/2022, 3:17 p.m
Just before the opening of the Winter Olympics, sport seems to be only a side issue. IOC boss Bach comes up with a strange comparison to explain the freedom of expression restricted by his association. China’s alleged genocide of the Uyghurs is too political for him.
Thomas Bach struggled with gestures for words, sometimes he stammered, then he dared a bizarre comparison. “If a theater actor gives Hamlet, nobody will ask him to express his political opinion on stage,” Bach said the day before the opening ceremony of the controversial Beijing Games. The President of the International Olympic Committee explained that the same applies to the athletes who start in the “new winter sports nation China”.
But in addition to harmless questions, mostly from the host country, which Bach answered with well-rehearsed rhetoric, other critical topics came up at the one-hour press conference after the 139th IOC session. First and foremost Peng Shuai. The case of the former Wimbledon winner in doubles, who had since disappeared from the scene after allegations of sexual abuse against a high-ranking Chinese politician, demanded the public even more after a nebulous video call between Bach and the Chinese for clarification – which Bach could only provide to a limited extent .
A face-to-face meeting in Beijing is planned, the 68-year-old explained, and Peng will enter the Olympic bubble specifically for this purpose. And the IOC would even support her if she asked for an investigation into her allegations of abuse, Bach asserted – with an addition: “It has to be her decision. It’s her life, it’s her allegations.” After the meeting, the Rings organization will “know better how she’s doing physically and mentally,” Bach said. However, critics assume that Peng’s decision-making is far from being as free as the IOC boss portrays it.
Russian aggression not a problem for Bach?
However, other questions remained, such as the question about the allegedly more than one million Uyghurs interned in China, which Bach answered succinctly with the reference that the IOC “does not comment on political issues”, otherwise one would get “in the midst of tensions and political forces. Then risk it we the existence of the Olympic Games.” A more than just questionable view of the Chinese actions, which many consider genocide.
Bach prefers to refer to the Olympic peace, which seems to be in serious jeopardy in view of the conflict between China and Taiwan and especially the Russian muscle flexing on the border with Ukraine. The IOC “cannot guarantee” that a United Nations resolution will be respected, said Bach, who will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the opening ceremony. The IOC alone can “ask” to comply with the Olympic Truce. In 2008, the war between Russia and Georgia began on the day of the opening ceremony, and in 2014 the Russian annexation of Crimea began during the Winter Games. Bach doesn’t seem to mind.
In the run-up to and in the esteemed environment of the IOC members, the long-time FDP member Bach had it much easier. “A new era of winter sports is beginning with the Beijing Games,” he rejoiced in the presence of Xi during the IOC session. Bach proudly explained that more than 300 million Chinese had been introduced to sports on snow and ice.
The world will benefit from this growth, “the boom in China will change the global winter sports industry”. This is a blessing for foreign manufacturers of ski lifts, snow cats and snow cannons. “All the companies that are mainly based in the Alps and North America will benefit greatly from the development of winter sports in China,” said Bach. Sentences that are to be expected in a similar form during his speech in the Olympic Stadium on Friday. Peng Shuai and the athletes’ freedom of expression shouldn’t find a place there.