A Torch-bearer For The Olympic Games, Not China

Sydney Morning Herald

Wednesday April 9, 2008

Jacqueline Magnay

It is a hallmark of our democracy that Australians can freely, but peacefully, protest: bring on the Beijing Olympic torch relay, I say.

When I saw the images of the torch relay runners being wrestled to the ground in London and the flame extinguished in Paris, I was saddened at the violence, but not surprised at the attention.

For the Olympic flame, which will arrive in Canberra on April 24, is not an affirmation of China's political policies but a forerunner to celebrating the very best of human endeavours at the Olympic Games in August.

The torch-bearers on the meandering route from Olympia to Beijing are supporting the Olympic ideals - as lofty and esoteric as they aspire to be - to help bring the world together.

The torch-bearers are not tacitly supporting China's involvement in Tibet, nor the country's record on human rights, nor the country's trading status with Sudan, which by implication is seen to be supporting the human tragedy that is Darfur. An important distinction is that China does not own the Games; it is a country privileged to be hosting them.

Many of the 80 who will carry the torch in Canberra have been selected because of their links to the Olympics. I know this because I received an invitation to run with the Olympic torch from the president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, in recognition of covering seven Olympic Games, but also to acknowledge my work in fighting for equal status of female journalists covering sport. Rogge thought I might like to be able to write about the emotional experience of carrying the torch. At the moment I am excited.

Nonetheless, as we have seen so starkly this week in London, Paris and overnight in San Francisco, the Olympic torch relay is both an irresistible magnet and an incredibly effective way for protesters to get their message across to the rest of the world.

This was always so and insiders have always known the torch relay was an exposed Olympic link. But is this such a bad thing?

It is worth remembering Beijing was controversially awarded the Games back in 2001 in a landslide win over Toronto. It was a time of vote-trading, not only about which country would host the 2008 Games, but who would replace the IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch. Seven years ago there were last-minute pitches from human rights campaigners, Amnesty, the European Parliament and in the US Congress seeking to derail the Beijing bid, but those supporting China were more powerfully linked with the voting members.

The Olympic champion Cathy Freeman was there lobbying for Beijing because her great-great-grandfather came from China during the gold rush. So, too, was the former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, an honorary IOC member and key figure in the ping-pong diplomacy that restored relations between China and the US.

Back then I wrote in the Herald: "The IOC members plumped for the high-risk, high-reward $3.2 billion Games in the city of 12 million people, lured by the attraction of positively influencing human rights and helping to open up the country to international trade."

In the past seven years international trade has exploded (BHP's iron ore trade with China has helped its share price jump from $9 to $40). But it is only now that the profile of the Olympics has elevated Chinese issues previously buried in the world pages to topics of everyday conversation. For that the torch relay has brought a lot of people together.

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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