Sochi 2014. Russia 2018. To major sports events both alike in dignity, which are and will be the scene of human rights controversy and corruption so rank that even some of the old Soviet bloc would be turning in their graves, if they weren't still heavily involved in the Russian power structure.
Gay rights seems to be the issue of choice for the Western media, it is straight forward and clearly delineates them from us. It is interesting to note though, that states in the USA prohibit sodomy, as does the 2010 Commonwealth games host India - which received little mention at the time. Google does not choose to 'bravely' comment on these issues (though it does provide forums for dissent - tax free!).
Russia passed the anti homosexual law recently, however the temporal proximity of a law hardly means it is more repressive. Russia has hardly been a beacon of humanitarianism in recent years, yet they were still selected to host an Olympics and a World Cup. The recent responses seem to think that the decision to grant these events is made in a vacuum, trapped in a void behind a seperate dimension, rather than as a result of international and entirely uncorruptable authorities, and that the games themselves are an apolitical expression of athleticism. They are not. Sports events are used by the corrupt to self promote, and to get together the various elites which care not a bit for gay rights or the rest of the worlds population.
What is noticeable is the reluctance to confront with a real determination the outrageous spending involved in the games. There is no campaign to boycott or protest against this, despite it being an example of an equally serious issue, that a country as powerful as Russia is run by a system of corrupt crony capitalism that allows $8billion to be spent on a 30 mile road. Why do we not want to challenge this so openly? Corporations so close to the government they can do what they wish perhaps look far to similar to what happens in the west, whereas a campaign for gay rights can create a bit of political capital and shows that the 'Ruskies' are still a bunch of 'Commys'. It is a political decision to have such a narrow focus.
These issues will not concern sports bodies, and as the 'Olympics is not about politics' I guess they needn't mind. I'm sure itt was sheer coincidence that the games were revived by Imperial Britain at the height of its empire and neoclassical pretensions, its charter contains political statements and it has a whole bureaucracy to support its operation - all apolitical matters.
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