The Winter Olympics are here again! Though not quite as celebrated as they once were . . .

This year the Winter Olympics are held in Beijing, China, making them the first ever city to host both a summer and winter Olympics. The summer Olympics were held there in 2008. However, this time around there is much controversy surrounding the games which has led to a global boycott in protest of the games.

For starters the most obvious reason for opposition: the ever-looming coronavirus. Beijing has allegedly tightened their coronavirus protocols and restrictions for the athletes. Even so, approximately 32 athletes have recently tested positive for the virus, and cases have been surging all throughout China. Some restrictions, huh? People all over the world have expressed their opinions that it isn’t appropriate to hold the Olympics during a pandemic. This same opinion was expressed during the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo (which really happened in 2021).

Adding to these concerns for athlete safety are cases of Chinese corruption that have appeared over the last few months. The funny thing is that people seem so surprised that there is corruption surrounding the games; I mean, what do you expect?

The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and various other countries have declared a “diplomatic boycott” because of “humans rights abuses and atrocities in Xinjiang [a city near Beijing],” against the Uygur Muslim community. It is believed, according to the BBC, that over one million Uyghurs have been detained over the past few years in a large network of so-called ‘re-education camps,’ with hundreds of thousands sentenced to prison terms. These boycotting countries did proceed to send their athletes to compete in the games, but didn’t send any government officials or representatives to spectate as they routinely do.

In addition to the humanitarian dangers, China is also being accused of poor treatment of their guest athletes. According to Forbes, representatives from several countries have accused China of inhumane conditions for quarantined athletes, unreasonable isolation rules, and unexplained media suppression.

My question is: why in the world would these countries just not completely withdraw from the Olympics altogether? I’m all for representing our country on the world stage and the feeling of national pride when one of our athletes wins a gold medal, but is it really worth the risk? A few more gold medals to our already well-decorated trophy cases shouldn’t be worth more than the safety of our athletes. Yes, I understand that they have been training for years for these few weeks under the microscope of the globe, but when it’s a matter of personal (and possibly national) security, that’s when it’s time for our leaders to step in and say enough is enough.

It’s also time for our leaders to step up and say that we will not associate our country and our athletes with the heinous acts of genocide being committed against the Muslim community in China.

Normally we would say ‘Let the games begin,’ but this time around I say: do we really want the games to begin?