I've been angry about the fact that China, with its horrendous record of oppression and human rights violations, got to host the Olympics, ever since I first heard they would get to host the Olympics.

I'm not for a ban. The Olympics belong to the athletes and the fans that dig it. It shouldn't be used as a bargaining chip. All it would do for us is make a load yet empty statement.

The Olympics are supposed to be about a peaceful world stage for the world's best athletes to compete against one another. By banning the games, you're costing your own athletes what for some is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

There was concern back when China was awarded the games. Any political action should have taken place before the IOC awarded the games. Now that it's done, let the games go on. It shouldn't be political.

If the Olympics can continue during both World Wars, it can continue now. Boycotting is common during times of political unrest, but at this point, I feel that America won't be one of them...not with our administration, anyway.

What happened to the American athletes in 1980 and the Russian athletes in 1984 was just wrong. I don't think athletes should be forced to boycott the games if they qualify. However I think the Smith and Carlos protest in '68 was awesome! I am down for that kind of peaceful demonstration by participants and spectators if they choose.

The last time America boycotted the Olympics was to protest Soviet occupation in Afghanistan, which is now the height of irony.
Moreover, considering that the IOC made the phenomenally stupid and ridiculously naive decision to award China the Olympics, boycotting now is a toothless gesture.
Obviously China has one of the most abhorrent human rights records in the world, but many of those countries with moves to boycott the Olympics aren't guileless. Particularly the US and Britain: the US has the death penalty and Guantanamo Bay. Britain, the host of 2012, has unlimited detention.
Besides, what are a few human rights abuses when we can see a little Romanian girl lose her childhood for the ability to cartwheel across a wooden plank?

I don't think the opportunity for an athlete to participate in a sports competition trumps our obligation to defend the opportunity for people to avoid being murdered in China, Tibet, Burma and Darfur.

The fact that China has flat-out told competing athletes that they are not allowed to discus certain politically sensitive topics (i.e. Tibet) or they won't be allowed to participate is completely unacceptable.

I absolutely support the boycott of the Chinese Olympics. China is a hotbed of human rights violations and by participating in the Olympics in Beijing, it's like giving them tacit approval of all the oppressive and offensive things they have done - and still do, and will CONTINUE to do.

I won't be watching the Olympics and I'll certainly be encouraging everybody I know to do the same.

I don't know what I think right now. China has had a negitive influence on so many areas of the world. And since doctors are already saying that their environment will hurt the endurance athelete's lungs, maybe it would be best to sit this out.

On the other hand, I know athletes work all of their lives for this, and some sports you can't do all of your life. Gymnasts, for example, have such a small window of opportunity to compete in the Olympics.

I am really surprised they decided to have it there in the first place.

LOL at the Romanian gymnast comment, Ami.

I'm not saying that the opportunity for athlete to participate trumps politics. I'm saying that the Olympic Games themselves should not be politics. Since the IOC awarded the games to China, athletes should be allowed to attend. Whether you like sports or not, Olympics are the crowning glory in an athlete's career. I'd imagine you'd be pretty upset if the government decided you couldn't have the chance to make your dream come true just to send a political message (which is all boycotting will do).

The "politics" of the Games should only be in play when awarding the games. It's a pretty lengthy process with plenty of time to raise your concerns then.

I do agree that China not allowing participants to comment on political things in unnecessary censoring, though it doesn't surprise me. I would hope the IOC would be able to have the say in that instead of China, but I don't know.

I'm for a ban...no matter how nice it would be to say "the Olympics are for the athletes" the reality is that the Olympics are for the HOST COUNTRY. They get all the athletes, the tourists, the journalists coming to stay. All the money, all the publicity. And the fact that all those people come to stay, to compete is one big fat affirmation for the country. How can anyone possibly convince the Chinese government that their behaviour is appalling if everyone turns up with big smiles on their faces and waves their flags at the games?

I've always thought less of Cdn Prime Minister Jean Chretien for forging ahead with trade relations with China after Tiannemon (sp?) Square. Not a good moment for Canadian foreign policy and makes us a much weaker voice for human rights issues.

China tortures dogs for food, believing that a suffering animal produces tastier meat, skins them alive for fur passing it off as faux to our unsuspecting public, and brutally kills them in culls in the ignorant attempt to control disease AND clean up for the Olympics. If this weren't enough, thousands of our beloved pets fell sick and died after eating contaminated food manufactured in China. This is the reason why I choose to boycott the Olympics.

umm I resent the Romanian childhood comment...

*taps foot*

Don't hate us 'cause we so dayum good.

Speaking of perfect scores, did anyone follow the '96 summer olympics? That was the most memorable experience for me, the American gymnastics team was so talked about...Keri and Dominique Moceanu/Dawes and Bela everyone's favorite coach?

Ahem, back on topic, in my opinion, America does trade/commerce with China, so...it'd kind of be hypocritical not to play with them, eh?

Save the Monks!

Goes to show you how high human rights are on the priority list of Americans. Money/business is always more important. The athletics are more important. That's the downside of being blessed by living in a country with so much freedom - we take it for granted or we feel free to look away & say nothing while they are being stripped away from others.

You know, everybody knows China does these things (human rights, environment, Tibetan Monks issue, etc.) but the world ignores it and does business with them anyway. So, go ahead and let the Olympics proceed. Shine that spotlight on them, and let the world see it all at once.

Hey, check out this web-site (sorry, I don't know how to do the cute little links)http://www.thecolororange.net/uk/ If we don't boycott the games completely, this is something that can hopefully make a statement. What China is doing to the Monks (and ANIMALS!!)is terrible. Tibetans are peaceful people, who do no harm to anyone.
They basically will be setting-up a false background around Beijing for the Olympic games, because their environment is so disgusting. And, please don't excuse that to "but it's a developing country."
Who cares if it upsets the athletes. Look at all of the steroid investigations in American sports. Marion Jones won how many medals, and she was taking steroids?! I'm sure that she's not the first, nor the last!

sylvana - I know! The 96 olympics were awesome. The whole 90s was a great time for female athletes. When little girls (like me!) looked up to women who train hard, have muscles and fight to win not at crack snorting jail birds like ritchie and hilton.

Eff them. Hell yeah lets boycott.

I agree with Clarient, completely.

Not to mention, Giving China our approval during this time, especially when we're marching all over Iraq and the only excuse we have left is "we're working for Iraq's freedom" is so unbelievably hypocritical, and it shows just where certain people in the government put their priorities.

Tibet is like a young wife at a social gathering, and China is her abusive husband that is digging his fingers into her arm so hard that welts are forming and growling at her loud enough for the entire room to hear.

And the rest of the world is standing around the room whistling because "oh, we don't want to get involved in their marriage", basically. Except in the rest of the world's case, it's "We don't want to get involved because there's nothing to gain from it."

I'm boycotting the games and encouraging my family to as well. And Olympics be damned. Yes, they are an important event for our athletes, but in this day and age, we need every bargaining chip we have that doesn't involve violence, and human lives are more important than sports.

THE OLYMPICS ARE NOT ABOUT POLITICS. IT'S ABOUT SPORTSMANSHIP.

if people read the official document about olympism and how cities are chosen, they would see that they do not judge on politics. all the things listed above deal with politics. if there is any "bad" thing about china that DIRECTLY deals with the olympics, it's the bad air pollution that will affect athelete performance.

Things are rarely ever as black and white as that, mcreverie. The Olympics brings a lot of tourism, positive attention and money to the host country. It was an unfortunate & short-sighted choice by the IOC and not one I will choose to endorse.

It's not like China is continually trying to poison our kids with toys or something. Come on!

Rac: Always the funny man.

I'm kind of with BrandyNicole on this one. And I don't think the German held Olympics back in the late thirties is a good argument speaking against a boycott. I think the games then should have most definitely have been boycotted. Oh well. I think it should be up to the individual athlete or country to decide whether to boycott or not.

Tricky one.

People have mentioned many reasons why any country shouldn't be allowed to host the OG.

But if you really think about it, you could more or less blame the same things on other countries. It just annoys me how political it all is. People were angry at the US government when the war in Iraq started, but - 99% for political reasons - no one would have mentioned boycotting the OG if the US had been hosting them at the time.
Policies re Burma/Darfur? If China was the only country not to do anything, there probably wouldn't be any people dying right now.
Respect of human rights? Let's talk about some of the things that happened with the US army in Iraq. And while there were protests during the Sydney OG, they weren't boycotted in spite of the Australian government's treatment of the Aboriginal people.
Pollution? Let's have a look at, well, any big industrialised country.

I strongly feel about all the issues mentioned by Citizen, but the hypocrisy of talking about boycotting OG sort of disgusts me. Of course China shouldn't be allowed handling these issues this way. But if governments really cared about it, they'd deal with it, much faster, in a political way. Except that when a crazy amount of the world's products is produced in China, no one is going to take this, there's just too much money involved.

Think about it, if you wanted to protest against these issues, you could simply start by boycotting clothes made in China, since it represents a big part of their economy. Somehow I doubt many (if any, and I'm guilty of that too) of the people who posted about boycotting the OG here refuse to buy items made in China.

I don't think the athletes should be punished, but I don't think the the Olympics should be held in any country guilty of such flagrant human rights violations.

This is a tricky one- it drives me crazy that athletes are having to sign something saying that they wont talk about the injustices they see there. There is something so wrong about that. But on the the other hand, athletes train their whole lives for this, they should be given a chance to compete. I have heard that marathoners are considering not going because of the air quality... I don't know- we all know that China has these issues and point blank refuses to change, how would boycotting something change that at all? Everyone would have to boycott for it to make a difference, and that isn't going to happen...

I don't think China should have been chosen to host the Olympics in the first place for these very reasons. However, since this decision has already been made, I actually find it pretty inspiring that people are having informative, thoughtful debates about China's policies. I wasn't hearing that even a few months ago. Maybe this can be seen as an opportunity, both for China to feel increased international pressure and for the rest of us to learn and discuss as much as we can. Considering a ban could be very productive for everyone, although I hope for the athlete's sake that China "puts its best face forward" (I cannot believe I just quoted anyone from the Bush administration) with some gesture so that people can embrace these games as a sign of better things to come. Meanwhile, if people choose not to watch the games, that is a choice I understand and respect.

I heart Sarkozy. He is at least threatening to boycott the opening ceremony as a result of the Tibet situation. The man can be crazy but he seems to have a heart and do the right thing for others.

Supporting the Olympics in China contributes more finances to a country that suppresses the basic freedoms of its own citizens, visitors, and the citizens of its neighboring countries. I say boycott.

firstly, i agree with comments 14 and 23. after seeing one voice's undercover video of china's dog meat trade, i have decided to boycott stuff made in china as much as i can - hit 'em where it hurts. and 23 is absolutely right, the olympics are not just about sports. as for 24, toys manufactured in china have been recalled because they did poison our kids! 28, never underestimate the power of a few concerned citizens when it comes to making a difference.

I hate China. ***BOYCOTTING***

I try to not buy products made in China as much as possible. Sometimes, it can be quite difficult. However, I like natural things, so I don't really have the need to buy that many things from China. The reason I do this is due to the fact that they were poisoning our children, and continue to do so. The policy issues are a completely different topic...
Did you see the CNN 3-part special on the environment? A large part of it was reporting on the environmental conditions of China. Deplorable...