Grievances in the Olympic Games

Grievances occur everywhere in sport but especially in the Olympic Games. I will mention four grievances where by locations of the Olympic Games have been awarded to countries which should not have got it.

China 2008

Beijing has promised to build eight spanking new sports stadiums. But in China this spring, authorities have been using older stadiums to stage mass sentencing rallies that publicly condemn prisoners to death.

From April to June this year, turnstiles across the country spun faster than ever in a killing spree denounced by Amnesty International as an "execution frenzy" and "huge waste of human life." During the past three months, China has executed at least 1,751 persons -- 30 more than the rest of the world managed over the past three years. The human rights watchdog counted the executions from 2,960 death sentences handed down during the ongoing "Strike Hard" campaign against crime.

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While the death toll threatens to break even China's bloody records, Amnesty believes the real figure could be much higher, for national statistics on the death penalty are guarded as state secrets.

On their final morning, condemned prisoners are displayed at sports stadiums or public squares, held in leg irons with their heads forced low in shame. Several years ago, the potential Olympic football venue, Beijing's Workers Stadium, hosted such macabre events. In most other Chinese cities, invited audiences, often several thousand strong, are still required to watch the sentencing, and learn to obey the law and the government. At ...

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