Sport and Politics

Yesterday saw the final day of the World Track and Field Championships. Being held in Europe, it's meant a few cruisy evenings, lying back watching the various events. I really appreciate that when compared to New Zealand where nearly every live global sporting event seemed to be in the middle of the night. It's nice to be civilised. Overall I thought that the championships were ok. It wasn't outstanding in performances, but it was an ok meet. The clear favourites generally didn't disappoint, and the new batch of obvious drug takers made themselves known to everyone. Nothing terribly new there. A sprinter who lowered his previous personal best time by more than half a second at that elite level over the space of 24 hours ? Sure, I'll buy that. I noted that a few repeat offenders are still being given airspace and that sucks. I don't care what your excuse was. I don't care if a group of school kids were using the gym at the time, I don't care if you only wanted to make your genitalia a bit larger, I don't care if someone else "let you down". I simply don't care. One missed drug test, one failed result, and that should be you gone for life. Some things in life, when the consequences to other people are so severe, you should not get a second chance. The punishment has to be so strong, and without any room for manipulation, that athletes will stop daring to take the risk. Possibly a bit too idealistic, but we have to be seen to be doing our part. Tough love is a start.

 

On the subject of love and tolerance, Swedish high jumper Emma Green Tregaro made a name for herself in the media during the world champs by painting her fingernails in rainbow colours. Supposedly as a protest against the Anti-Gay sentiment highlighted by the media in Russia recently. As per usual, you're about to hear my take on the incident. First up, I'm completely opposed to discrimination of any form, and that includes sexual orientation. The Russian policy offends me as a person. Clearly, it also offended Emma as a person. Assuming it wasn't just a media profile stunt on her behalf. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt there but you never can be absolutely sure when professional athletes and future sponsorships deals are concerned. Let's say that her protest was genuine.

 

The fact that Emma chose to protest when and how she did, I do have a big problem with. Emma is entitled to a personal opinion, and is entitled to express that as an individual. However, the moment she turned up at a world championships wearing a Swedish uniform, she knowingly assumed a greater responsibility. From that moment on, she was no longer representing herself, she was representing the people of Sweden. Everything that she did or said had the potential to be reflected back onto a nation of 9 million people. With that level of responsibility, you have to be super careful. Emma is not a trained spokesperson. She has neither the knowledge, nor the mandate, to speak on behalf of the people of Sweden. Whom she was in Russia to represent. I can well understanding the large amount of cristicism she received from many quarters. I read a good reaction to the incident where it was equated to accepting an invitation into another person's home and then criticising their home while they are serving you dinner.

 

My opinion is that if Emma had a problem with the Russian system, she should have travelled to Russia on her own time, representing only herself, and done something about it. But she can't act as a representative of Sweden when she can not know if the population of Sweden agrees or disagrees with her. I personally agree with Emma's personal opinion. So that's 2 people who we know for certain of. That still leaves 8.9 million whos opinions we can't talk for certain about. All opinions aside, as a Swedish citizen I did not give Emma permission to protest in Russia on my behalf. Yet she did exactly that, and that was a mistake. Any person who chooses to represent a group of people, be it through sport or politics, has to park their own personal views in the background in favour of the views of those people they have chosen to represent. If they don't like that, then they shouldn't take on the role of representation. You don't get to have it both ways.

 

Emma could have chosen not to go to a country which offended her. I would have repected that a lot. Many New Zealanders decided not to play sport against South Africans at a time when the government was still sanctioning sporting contact. It cost those players their playing careers, it likely didn't change a single thing in South Africa, but they earned the respect of their fellow countrymen. It's a bit of a fantasy to say that sport and politics shouldn't mix. The reality of life is very different. If this was truely the opinion of the Swedish nation, then the Swedish government could have requested that the athletics association not send any athletes to Russia. That would have made more of a collective statement.