The Olympics come but once every two years, however in India, Pakistan and for that matter, the rest of south Asia, the time gap is double the amount.
Boasting some of the highest and treacherous, snow-capped peaks in Pakistan K2 and Nepal Everest, it should be noted that the region doesn't churn out medal contenders in the Winter Olympics such as perennial favourites in the tallies as the U.S. or Russia do. Perhaps the closest success Asia has attained in the Winter Olympics, save for Japan high flying success in ski jumping, is Kazakhstan's move into the lower-tier of ice hockey. Only then will 21-0 games make apparent that the Winter Olympiad less likely a place for Asian athletes to put their best foot forward. Note: For those unaccustomed to the term ice hockey, it is basically 12 men (or an underappreciated, but skilful dozen women) skating, on frozen ice, after a small black object just think field hockey but less strenuous.
In all seriousness, the reason the Olympics are garnering so much attention this quadrennial are its hosts. These past six months of protests would surely not have occurred had either Tashkent or Toronto, as opposed to Beijing, been given the task to host the greatest sporting spectacle on Earth
With the notion of nations threatening to boycott resonating the world over, the more heavily concentrated thoughts emerging from Europe, one state should be firmly against this disgraceful ploy â€" this being of course Pakistan.
Pakistan has little to gain from a boycott and precious more to lose. Primarily, as a nation, news that the country is again making news headlines will just further accentuate all that is wrong in the decision-making processes originating out of Islamabad.
With its trade and export agreements firmly established, Sino-Pak relations may further depreciate should matters escalate regarding Baron Pierre de Coubertin’s brainchild in Paris, circa 1896, in hope of resurrecting the ancient Olympics.
The consensus choice among leading academic journals and periodicals concludes China as the replacement for the U.S. as the world’s next great financial superpower. For Pakistan, it would be tantamount to committing ‘economic suicide’ should it even hint at severing or reducing its ties with its northern neighbour. This all to send a message that, ‘no, we are not sending our athletes to an event showcasing all that is good with this world’. The merits behind this flawed message are despicable at best.
Pakistan, alongside, but not inclusive to the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), are but a few of the countries in the world whose economy, in GDP, unemployment, purchasing power parity and other key financial indicators are actually on the upswing. This is occurring all in the middle of the world’s worst financial crises in almost 80 years. One would be amiss to ignore the talk that West Texas Intermediate crude oil has reached a record-high and extrapolation of data that peak production and consumption has long since passed. The reliance now rests in the hope of Russia relaxing its restrictions in order for the Nabucco pipeline to transport oil to nervous European buyers, conservative clerics in Iran to realize the vast wealth it is sitting on and reserves to be unearthed under the Canadian Shield in northern Alberta.
However, I digress, this was supposed to be about sport, the Olympics, faster, higher, stronger, citius, altius, fortius. Now, however, and as of late, Beijing 2008 appears that it will turn into a Caesarean declaration of war, veni, vidi, vici â€" I came to the Olympics, I saw sport’s less than best, and I conquered what little good there is left in humanity.
Pakistan will probably not win a brace of medals, but to deny cash-strapped athletes, ones that have been training in excess of four years for perhaps as little as a qualifying heat in the 100-metre dash (lasting less than 15 seconds) would be a grave injustice. All this extraneous mention of Tibet, Taiwan, oil, Darfur and the list goes on, is, save for two weeks in the summer every four years, what should be talked about in order to avert world crises.
New Delhi’s 2010 Commonwealth Games are but a few years away. I would bet OIL COMPANY IN CHINA Unical’s payout in dividends that Pakistan’s athletes would relish the opportunity to test their mettle against sporting’s elite.
An old sports adage mentions that in order to be the best, you have to compete against the best. Let bygones be bygones, avert the boycott Pakistan, you owe it to your athletes. Don’t allow God-given gifts be laid to waste, don’t fault your athletes for something unmistakably out of their control.
Ambassadors they are, politicians they are not.