76-19-B3

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The Olympics

Transcript Most Americans were angry, frustrated and a little ashamed last year when young athletes from the Republic of China on Taiwan were told they couldn't compete in the Montreal Olympics. If I remember correctly, they had made the journey and were on hand when the door was slammed in their faces. The Chinese Communists -- claiming there is only one China -- had demanded the Taiwan ouster on the grounds that the Peking team was the official representative of that one China. It wasn't the first time an Olympic committee has taken the easy way out under political pressure, and I'm afraid it won't be the last. The committee should have told the Chinese Communists their protest was denied. If they then chose not to compete, that would have been their decision. The Olympics are dedicated to sport and, by rule and tradition, are supposed to ignore politics. Frankly, I would have been proud if our young athletes and those from other free world nations had told the weak-kneed committee that Taiwan would compete or the Chinese Communists would be running around the track by themselves. But that didn't happen and the Olympic flame seems a little less bright these days. Now, it appears the athletes of another country are threatened with being ousted even though the games are three years away. The Soviet Union, as host of the 1980 games, is being a little more subtle but the goal is the same -- ouster of a nation because of politics. In this case the target is Israel and someone had better start speaking up or Israel will be on the non-competitors list long before 1980 rolls around. From all that can be learned, the Soviet Union is working through the [[wikipedia:Third World]] nations using an Olympic rule governing eligibility. It seems that a competing nation must belong to at least five of the 26 international sports federations to be eligible for the Olympics. If you'll remember, the Third World nations some time ago took advantage of their numbers to pass a resolution in the U.N. General Assembly equating Zionism with racism. Now, as the various international sports federations meet, Third World nations invoke this resolution to oust Israel on the charge of racial discrimination. So far the maneuver has been successful in getting Israel thrown out of three federations. If, come 1980, Israel does not have membership in the required five, they just won't be invited to compete. Ineligible, don't you know -- sorry. There seems to be a media blackout on this shenanigan and the Olympic committee makes pollyanna noises about Soviet "guarantees". You can't help but wonder what would happen if the U.S. Olympic committee just once would say to the international committee, "We want to see the guest list now or we aren't coming to the party." This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 76-19-B3 Production Date 09/06/1977 Book/Page RihoH-214 Audio Youtube? No
		Added Notes CBC article about the banning indicates it was not the Olympic Committee that banned the Taiwanese players, it was Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.