Even before the current Olympics, the IOC and all the associated and related
groups have already shown they have no shame, no honor, no morals, no
ethics. For me, the time when I came to finally view that organization with
disgust was the 2002 Winter Olympics held in the US:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipsa/A0922269.html
There was one scandal and charges of corruption after the other, in the true
European tradition, of back room deals and payoffs. The North American
ideology is different on these types of things, and as a related cultural
difference we see countries such as Germany allowed foreign pay-offs for
contracts as legal and even openly declared tax write-offs.
Particularly disgusting was the case of the Canadian figure skating duo that
was so much better that the competition, but were scored lower. It was not
even close. The fans and media were outraged at such obvious cheating. Even
then, the Olympic people, caught with their pants down, tried to deny it
all, and talk their way out of it, which only made it worse. In the end the
clear winners had to share the gold medal with the clear losers, who only
got there by voting fraud. The losers never did the honorable thing, and
renounce their gold, because they did not rightfully win it, showing they
also have no honor, no shame, no morals.
It teaches us:
1. The fans being free to protest and chase after the IOC leaders, kept the
pressure on, and made the leaders answer to the people. If that Olympics was
in places like China or Russia, there is little doubt, protesting, stirring
dissent, or challenging the corrupt leaders, would be firmly squashed.
2. The power of the free press, showing the news on this everyday, and
keeping the pressure on the IOC to respond correctly.
3. Even when the IOC was aware of the problem, they tried to bury it, and
except for freedom to dissent and protest, and freedom of media in the host
country, they would have done nothing. I predict they will not look for
answers, but only look for a way out of this.
When I refer to the IOC above, I refer to the international group. The local
committee in the US, just like the fans and media, demanded real answers.
