The 2022 Winter Olympics will be held in Beijing next February. Those opposed to China’s human rights violations are calling for a boycott. That’s a complicated form of protest.
Tim Liao, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Sprinter Peter Norman has been memorialised in many ways in the US for his support of Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics. In Australia, it’s taken much longer.
Almost 50 years ago, a white, non-American athlete supported Black athletes protesting racial injustice. Peter Norman paid a price for taking a stand. Canada’s Sidney Crosby is no Peter Norman.
The Olympic Games are a theatre — sometimes farce, sometimes tragedy, reality TV, morality play or soap opera — where geopolitical, social and technological dramas are played out.
Sporting celebrities and stars have always featured centrally in the psyche of the Australian nation. Our athletes are portrayed as positive role models and many of their indiscretions and behaviours are…