Will the IOC let a country like China host the Olympics again?

[StateBoiler]

The 1984 Winter Olympics were also held in a communist country. Don't think there was that much protest about it, though.

Sarajevo of the then Yugoslavia. The games had a warm atmosphere around them, although parts of the Olympic Games being used in the civil war less than 7 years later provided some pause. The bobsled run constructed for the games was being used by soldiers as a shield against bullets.

Also, Sochi, Russia (in the Caucusus Mountains near Georgia and the Black Sea) will host the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The International Olympic Committee will probably let a country like China host the Olympics again. In a sense, giving the Olympic games to a nation like China, is like giving a good behaviour bond to a criminal. They are satisfied with their progress but assume their past behaviour won't happen again. But with China as we know, it's still happening. Bad move by the IOC.

Can we all realize that all the countries make up the IOC? China wouldn't have gotten the Games if the major countries around the world hadn't've agreed to it, and that includes the U.S. and Europe.

As jeron said, the Olympics is only about making money. There's a huge amount of American money in the Olympic movement that would have pulled out if they had any moral qualms at all about Beijing being host. They didn't, so they endorsed the Olympics being in Beijing, probably in the beginning.

[Platypus]

CHINA DESERVED THE GAMES.

1.6 billion people, consistently highly ranked on the medal tally, and the capability to pull off a stunning games.

The olympics are political, of course, but they are not games of Democracy, they are worldwide. No reason is strong enough to deny the PRC the olympic games-yes, they are a dictatorship, yes there are human rights abuses against the tibetans-and all other people in the PRC-and yes, i'd like that to chage, but the olympics are NOT ABOUT SPREADING DEMOCRACY.

The olympics are about the world coming together to compete, about giving the host city and nation a bit of jingoism perhaps, but mainly about leaving aside wars-militaristic, economic and political-for a couple of weeks. They are commercial, and they are increasingly designed for US tv audiences, but they are NOT the US's diplomatic tool in the sporting arena.

Sorry if this is a rant, but Beijing deserved the games. To be frank, it's a disgrace that  China has never hosted before, and moreso that the US gets at least one games every 16 years or so, usually two.

[Sensei]

New rule, the Olympics aren't allowed to have their games in any country where the majority color on the flag is red.

I wouldn't bet on  many Vancouver '10 protests going on.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

@Jas: I should also have mentioned the "rent a protest" group. However I think you would recognize that in the region there is a tendency to overly exoticize the people and their culture.

Probably true.

How much do people know about the Pre-1949 Tibet really?

Indeed, I suspect they don't really know anything about it. (I also know very little about it.)

That isn't to say that the protestors aren't right,

Indeed.

just selective in their facts and history.

Just like the opposition. (And most people making any political point, on any subject, ever. )

1) No-one else here will know what I'm talking about, but did you see the Cathal O Searchaigh documentary and all the fuss over it? That happened across the border in Tibet. I rest my case.

2) Neither do I; except only to note that it was somewhat of an unpleasant theocracy (which is why Mao invaded it in first case; it certainly wasn't Economics. China has no benefited from owning Tibet.)

3) They are. But I wonder what many of them are for. But I said that about Iraq aswell.

4) I concur.

Btw it's hard to find a country - especially if you dig hard enough - which hasn't abused human rights to a degree in the past quarter century even. (No protests about Greek Occupation of Southern Cyprus, The treatment of Aborigines, the myraid things the US did under Clinton oohhh.. say, the Haiti Intervention, The Gwanghou massarce though I think South Korea had a different government then but not when awarded the games... and so on.)

[Јas]

1) No-one else here will know what I'm talking about, but did you see the Cathal O Searchaigh documentary and all the fuss over it? That happened across the border in Tibet. I rest my case.

Fair point. (I didn't see the documentary but obviously couldn't avoid the ensuing media hubbub.)

2) Neither do I; except only to note that it was somewhat of an unpleasant theocracy (which is why Mao invaded it in first case; it certainly wasn't Economics. China has no benefited from owning Tibet.)

3) They are. But I wonder what many of them are for. But I said that about Iraq aswell.

4) I concur.

Btw it's hard to find a country - especially if you dig hard enough - which hasn't abused human rights to a degree in the past quarter century even. (No protests about Greek Occupation of Southern Cyprus, The treatment of Aborigines, the myraid things the US did under Clinton oohhh.. say, the Haiti Intervention, The Gwanghou massarce though I think South Korea had a different government then but not when awarded the games... and so on.)

True. But what sets China apart is the scale of the abuses; the motivations for the abuses; and the fact that China's influence in the rest of the world (which clearly is less than positive, see Darfur, Burma...) is so significant and continuing to grow.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

New rule, the Olympics aren't allowed to have their games in any country where the majority color on the flag is red.

I wouldn't bet on  many Vancouver '10 protests going on.

Blame Canada!

[Frodo]

1936 Berlin
1980 Moscow
2008 Beijing

I don't think they will ever learn their lesson.

I am only surprised they haven't pick Myanmar, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Sudan, or Iran yet. 

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Let's not forget Seoul 88 and Mexico City 68.

[GMantis]

Let's not forget Seoul 88 and Mexico City 68.

In fact, Moscow 1980 was better (as far as human rights are concerned) than those two.