Sochi Isn’t a Host, and Olympic Athletes Aren’t Guests, So Stop Talking About Hospitality

[MNBrewer]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2013/08/26/at_the_sochi_olympics_and_russia_isn_t_a_host_and_the_athletes_aren_t_guests.html

Just last week, U.S. figure skater Jeremy Abbott is reported as saying, "Russia is hosting us. I'm not going to go into somebody's house and be like, 'Um, the way you decorate is hideous, and you need to completely redo this or I'm never coming back.' It's a little rude, so I don't want to say bad things about a country that's hosting the world, essentially.”

It’s a lousy analogy.

The Olympic organizing committees are not hosts, they are not heads of households. They are suppliers who have sought the right, in a competitive bidding process, to use the intellectual property of the International Olympic Committee for their mutual benefit. No athlete asked for the privilege of competing in Sochi specifically. It was the Russians who asked for the privilege of organizing the 2014 Winter Olympics for the benefits they felt they would provide, not out of altruistic hospitality. When they won their bid, they signed on to the values and principles of the IOC, including Principle 4 (sport is a human right) and Principle 6 (no discrimination in sport) of the Olympic Charter. The government of Russia signed a contract with the IOC, and the IOC needs to enforce that contract.

When you choose to visit a foreign country as a tourist or on business, you do indeed accept that you will have to obey its laws and customs. You are a guest, the nation is your host. On this basis, many of us have a list of countries we simply will not visit, both because we don’t wish to provide financial support to an unjust regime and to avoid having to comply with intolerable laws.

[GeorgeGist]

1. Sometimes it's Guts OR Glory.

Apparently, Jeremy Abbott has chosen to go for No Guts and Glory.

[LostOne4Ever]

3. It is also the DUTY of all those who love and value freedom and equality

TO SPEAK UP FOR THOSE WHO VOICE HAS BEEN TAKEN AWAY AND RIGHTs HAVE BEEN VIOLATED!!!!

The actions of the Russian government and its people toward its own people and now toward the LGBTQ Athletes of the world are beyond rude. Its despotic, hateful and bordering on evil. The hypocrisy of Jeremy Abbott scolding others for being rude in spite of this defies all definition.

This attitude is nothing more than an attempt to protect this horrible policy. An appeasement to hate and an implicit endorsement of Russia's law. If you went into a house and saw a father physically abusing their young son would you keep quiet? If you keep quiet do you not bear responsibility for what is going on and for the situation it may or may not evolve into?

I think we should be letting his sponsors know how dangerous and hurtful his remark are. What he is saying should not be brushed off as simply a clueless remark. His words allow hate to spread and take hold and he should be made to be responsible for them.