The message of the 2018 Pyeongchang “Peace Olympics” is clear.
Athletes using performance-enhancing drugs will be exiled, stripped of national colours and shunned. “Olympic Athletes from Russia” participating in the Winter Games are feeling such scorn.
Meanwhile, North Korea’s 500-person Olympic delegation — attending the Olympics under duress, constant surveillance and potential abuse —are venerated. The 22 athletes and some 200 cheerleaders — an Olympic first — bear as much resemblance to the Olympic values of “friendship, respect and excellence” as do the Harlem Globetrotters to the NBA championships.
This sets an alarming precedent. Banning Russia while embracing North Korea reveals the deeper moral value of the Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee opposes performance-enhancing drugs that can carry an athlete to the podium. However, it remains eerily silent on how North Korea pushes their athletes towards that same podium.
‘Peaceful resolve’
“Olympic Truce” dates back to ancient Greece. It allows athletes to travel safely to participate in Olympic events during times of conflict. North Korean athletes are in Pyeongchang under this edict. It is meant to build peaceful resolve to the Korean conflict.
But is diplomacy possible with North Korea? Kim Jong-un’s state of iron-fisted control breaks international agreements with impunity.
