My opinion is that we should not, and here’s why.
Some years ago, a famous American Olympic champion told me that he was upset when the United States boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympic Games in Russia. The boycott, initiated by President Jimmy Carter because of Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan, occurred when U.S Olympic officials said the U.S. would not participate in the Soviet games. More than 60 countries joined the boycott.
President Carter’s decision not to play ball with the Russians because of their invasion of Afghanistan was originally derided by many U.S. Olympians and American Olympic officials, even though they eventually decided not to go against the president’s wishes.
The Olympic champion I knew told me that his thinking had evolved over the years, and perhaps the U.S. boycott was justified. The response raises my question: Should the U.S. play ball with countries that are enemies of the United States and wish us harm?
What are arguably the two most important sports events in some time are fast approaching and will be held in the U.S. – the FIFA World Cup (which starts on June 11) and the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Assuredly, the overlords who control FIFA, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the U.S. Olympic committees, the L.A. Olympic organizing committee, the sports marketers, and television networks, and the overwhelming number of athletes believe that the games should go on.
“Sports bring people together” is the rationale for those interested parties who believe that the show must go on. They point to the ping pong diplomacy in 1971 between the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China, which thawed frozen relations and paved the way for President Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to Beijing.
How’d that work out, folk? China is now allied with Iran and Russia.
Spring ahead to 2026…. U.S. intelligence sources say that Russia is providing information that Iran is using to target American interests. Different people have different opinions on whether the war against Iran is in the best interest of the U.S. My opinion is that Russia’s providing information to Iran is reason enough to bar them from sending athletes to the L.A. Olympics. (Because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, FIFA banned the country from sending a team to the World Cup.)
USA TODAY reported that Iranian Football Federation President Mehdi Taj has “demanded assurances from FIFA that his country’s military won’t be insulted” and that Iran’s traveling delegation will be allowed into the U.S. during the World Cup. The article, written by Seth Vertelney, said that without these assurances, Iran “may not be able to participate in the World Cup.”
Because I do not believe that sports bring people together, and given Iran’s decades – long history of supporting terrorists’ actions and anti-U.S. rhetoric, I’m against allowing an Iranian team to play games in the U.S. (Three games featuring Iran are scheduled to be played in the U.S.) But it’s just not how Russia is behaving currently that should bar them from participating in sports events that are promoted as bringing people together.
History shows that these sporting events, with very rare exceptions, do not change the nature of countries, especially in the case of Russia. Here’s validation for drawing that conclusion.
— 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics: During the 2008 Games, Russia invaded Georgia.
— 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics: Shortly after the close of the 2014 Winter Olympics and during the Paralympics, Russia invaded and annexed Crimea.
— 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics: Russia engaged in a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Add in Russia’s providing intelligence that Iran is using to target Americans and American interests, and it shows why I believe that the U.S. should not play ball with our enemies.
History shows that sports do not stop countries from doing what they think is best for them. Perhaps the most iniquitous example is the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, which were awarded both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Despite opposition from American government officials, clergymen, and at least one U.S. Olympic official, Avery Brundage, who headed the then-called American Olympic Committee, and later became president of the IOC, whitewashed the Nazi regime’s policies. A U.S. team participated in what was to become known as the Nazi Olympic Games, which gave Adolph Hitler his first worldwide platform.
That said, those who were against sending a U.S. team to the Berlin Olympics included
Jeremiah T. Mahoney, a former New York State Supreme Court justice and president of the Amateur Athletic Union, who said sending a U.S. team would be a “moral and financial support to the Nazi regime.”
Ernest Lee Jahncke, a former Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Navy and an American member of the IOC, was expelled from the IOC in July 1936 for his public stance against the Berlin Games.
Fiorello La Guardia, Mayor of New York, who supported the boycott movement.
Al Smith and James Curley, former New York Governor and Massachusetts Governor, respectively, who were vocal opponents of sending a team.
George Messersmith, chief of the U.S. Legation in Vienna, would participate, thereby legitimizing Hitler.
William E. Dodd, U.S. Ambassador to Germany, who criticized the American Olympic Committee’s decision to participate.
Walter White, Secretary of the NAACP, who pushed for a boycott, specifically urging African American athletes not to participate in a country that celebrated racism.
Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a future Congressman, who wrote against participation.
Various Catholic and Jewish religious leaders, who said participation would be an endorsement of Nazi anti-Semitic policies, and
The Commonweal, the influential Catholic journal, called for a boycott, saying that the games would “set the seal of approval upon the radically anti-Christian Nazi doctrine of youth.”
Personally, even though the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Olympics in Russia kept me from getting a free trip to Russia and playing a key role for any Burson-Marsteller clients involved in the games, I thought President Carter did the right thing.
The policies of the Russian government, and the deceitful ones of its Olympic officials, only strengthen my belief that playing ball with our adversaries whitewashes their actions, as does our sending a team to participate in games hosted by other totalitarian regimes.
Of course, there are some benefits to the U.S. playing ball with our enemies. The moguls who control international sports megaevents make millions of dollars. The networks that televise them also make millions. Sponsors advertise at international events to promote their products internationally. Athletes who star in the games are often awarded lucrative product endorsement contracts. But the benefits of the U.S. playing ball with our enemies are lacking. History proves that. Doing so only benefits a few insiders.
The headline of this essay is ‘Should the U.S. Play Ball With Adversaries?’ My answer is NO!
