Olympics masquerade

We are not going to be watching a lot of the Tokyo Olympics. My wife will be following the women’s gymnastics, as for me, we’ll see. 

I don’t like the way Thomas Bach forced the Games onto the Japanese (and I’m certain, their prime minister) when almost 80% of the population against the idea. In this day and age, the I.O.C. has become the defacto decider and the one running the show, not the host country or the host city, even if his actions might seem heavy-handed. 

This explains why the Tokyo Games will go on amid the pandemic, and also why, next year's, the Winter Games under the authoritarian Xi regime won’t be moved or canceled if pressure were to be applied by the I.O.C to hold China to account for its treatment of the Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang province, and for cracking down on democracy advocates in Hong Kong. 

Now, more than ever, the I.O.C. is fully in charge, no matter what. As a testimony to the organization’s growing power, the I.O.C.’s staff at its Lausanne headquarters has grown from a couple dozen people in the 1980s to about 100 people in the ’90s, and to roughly 600 people today. 

This growth, in turn, has diminished the role of the I.O.C.’s membership, a group of 102 sports officials from around the world who once handled many of the specialized tasks that are now undertaken by seasoned professionals in Lausanne under Bach’s firm leadership. On June 23, Bach officially opened up, with great fanfare a gigantic, new headquarters built at the modest cost of $205 million, including close to $15 million in “reserve”. 

While his role as I.O.C. president remains technically that of a volunteer, it was revealed in 2015 that Bach was receiving an annual “indemnity” payment of 225,000 euros (roughly $244,000 at the time and certainly tax free) to cover his activities as president. Like the two I.O.C. presidents before him, he lives at the Lausanne Palace, a luxury hotel in the center of the city, free of charge, and (in my humble opinion) doesn’t travel economy class.

In the world of sports, the institution has now become the tail that wags the dog. Yet, if there were no Olympic games, there would be no need for that monstrosity that the I.O.C. has become and Bach would have no job. But since money and corruption still play such a central role in the I.O.C., there’s probably little that can be done about it, yet it’s become amply clear that Bach has destroyed the hopes of those who believed he’d be a different kind of president, and instead has embraced the kind of authoritarian role that he seem to play perfectly.