Mistakes of Olympian proportions

GUANG NIU/Getty Images News How polluted is Beijing? The air quality in “Greyjing” is so bad, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req’d), that International Olympic President Jacques Rogge is considering postponing several sporting events at the 2008 Summer Games—which begin one year from today—if China doesn’t clean up its act. (This contradicts what a ...

600095_070808_greyjing_05.jpg
600095_070808_greyjing_05.jpg

GUANG NIU/Getty Images News

GUANG NIU/Getty Images News

How polluted is Beijing?

The air quality in “Greyjing” is so bad, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req’d), that International Olympic President Jacques Rogge is considering postponing several sporting events at the 2008 Summer Games—which begin one year from today—if China doesn’t clean up its act. (This contradicts what a top Olympics official said back in July, by the way.)

Much ink has been spilled about how human-rights advocates are using the Olympics to embarrass the Chinese government. (Just now, Canadian pro-Tibet activists got in trouble for hanging a cheeky banner on the Great Wall.) The air-pollution issue only raises further questions about the wisdom of picking China to host the 2008 Olympics.

But Beijing ’08 isn’t the only questionable decision the International Olympic Committee has made in recent years. Did you know that for the 2014 Winter Games, the IOC chose a Russian resort town just a short drive from … get this … Chechnya?

Paul Sonne argues in Gold, Silver, and Brazen, a new Web-exclusive piece for FP, that it’s high time the IOC started taking politics into account in making its selections. After all, he says, politics inevitably comes into the picture, so the IOC might as well make smarter choices. Check it out.

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.