BEIJING — The Olympics are back in China, whether athletes and activists want them here or not. In spirit, the International Olympic Committee is just another corporation willing to take a PR hit in exchange for the treasure of doing business with China. Put its tax-exempt status aside. Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan, were the only two cities that bid for these Games to the end, and the IOC went where the money was (and is). It is the IOC’s way.
If that makes you uneasy as you watch these Olympics … well, it should. The Olympics are a wonderful sporting event colored by geopolitical tensions and packaged by a morally amorphous organization with a history of corruption. This is why the IOC can act the way that it does: It has a product people want to buy, no matter who is selling it or where. Thursday evening here, IOC president Thomas Bach predictably and pathetically praised the hospitality of the Chinese people. Well, sure. The government has been good to him.
Nonetheless: The product remains worth your time. The athletes are marvels and the events are a joy. Nobody has to watch, of course. But it is possible to enjoy the Olympics and still criticize the IOC and China.
