Sport is politics, and heaven knows politics can be a sport.

So, can we separate the two as Ryan eloquently argues in “sportplomacy, as stupid as it sounds”  following the latest hullabaloo brought about by Spielberg. Is sport just a game, as Ryan says? Or is it much more than that?

Sport was used as a very powerful political tool in bringing down the apartheid regime in South Africa, that’s for sure. 

But with the Olympics there is a conundrum. That is Section 51 of the Olympic Charter, which states:

“No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”

Furthermore, a text adopted by the IOC Executive Board last April in Beijing said:

“The Olympic parties shall work to maintain harmonious relations with state authorities, in accordance with the principle of universality and political neutrality of the Olympic Movement.”

American water polo player Brad Greiner in an article in the Wall Street Journal argues this is a grey area and that there are a number of ways  to talk about Darfur when in Beijing that do not go against the Charter.

Greiner created Team Darfur, along with fellow American speed skater Joey Cheek. Greiner says he is not advocating a boycott of the Games, and believes athletes have the most power if they are in Beijing where they can speak.

Greiner thinks a way around the Charter, is to raise the issue in interviews with news media. He also says “activist” athletes could also wear symbolic attire in a form of solidarity. The WSJ article says nearly 250 members of the so-called Team Darfur are currently training wearing red, green and black sweatbands as means of protest.

Joey Cheek (2nd L), Olympic Gold Medal Winner (speed skating) and co-founder of Team Darfur, speaks at a rally outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington, last December. Picture by Hyungwon Kang/Reuters.

And the picture on the left shows Joey in action at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. Picture by Max Rossi/Reuters.