The founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, conceived of his philosophy of “Olympism” as being above politics. Yet in truth, politics has always intruded upon the Olympic Games. Germany and Japan were not invited to the 1948 competition. A US-led boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the year before, led dozens of countries to pull out. The Soviets responded in 1984 with an Eastern Bloc counter-boycott in Los Angeles.
This year, politics is once again encroaching on Olympic sport after Krystina Timanovskaya, a Belarusian runner, accused her country’s Olympic Committee (BOC) of attempting to forcibly repatriate her to Belarus on 1 August. The athlete had earlier criticised BOC officials for allegedly entering her into the 400-metre relay when she had trained for the 200 metre sprint. A number of Belarusian competitors for the relay had been disqualified for failing to provide the requisite number of anti-doping tests, leading the BOC officials to demand Timanovskaya step in to replace one.
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