06:46 pm
Controlympics: Jacques Rogge is Still A Dillweed
But you knew that. Nonetheless, I love Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports’ latest column:
Jacques Rogge is so bought, so compromised, the president of the IOC doesn’t have the courage to criticize China for telling a decade of lies to land itself these Olympic Games. All the promises made to get these Games — on Tibet, Darfur, pollution, worker safety, freedom of expression, dissident rights — turned out to be phony, perhaps as phony as the Chinese gymnasts’ birthdates Rogge was way too slow to investigate. One of the most powerful men in sports turned the world away from his complicity.
Instead, he has flexed his muscles by unloading on [Usain Bolt], a powerless sprinter from a small island nation. . . .
[T]his is richer than those bribes and kickbacks the IOC got caught taking. All the powerful nations — including the United States — have carte blanche at the Games. . . .They can take turns slapping Rogge and his cronies around like rag dolls as long as the dinner with a good wine list gets paid. . . .
Bolt is everything the Olympics are supposed to be about. He isn’t the product of some rich country, some elaborate training program that churns out gold medals by any means necessary. He’s a breath of fresh air, a guy who came out of nowhere to enrapture the world with his athletic performance and colorful personality. This is no dead-eye product of some massive machine. He was himself, and the world loved him for it. . . .
Apparently, Rogge would prefer 12-year-old gymnasts too frightened to crack a smile.
It got better when, in the same press conference, he pretended to forget all the lies China told him to get this bid, all the troubles, all the challenges, and praised the host nation. Yes, these have been an exceptionally well-run Games from a tactical standpoint, and the Chinese people have displayed otherworldly kindness. None of which denies the promises broken, the innocent jailed, the freedoms denied — the kind of issues someone with Jacques Rogge’s standing should be talking about.
He has no spine for that. Not for China.
Perfect. I only regret that I cannot award Rogge the prestigious Dillweed of the Day. Again. For the third time. Or is it fourth? He’s becoming the Usain Bolt of Dillweeds. But as I’ve noted before, he and the International Olympic Committee (and the U.S. Olympic Committee) were the first inductees into the Dillweed Hall of Shame.
Oh what the hell. Rules (and promises) are to made to be broken. Just ask the ChiComs.
Congratulations, Jacques. You’ve won it again. Try not to put on a show. Make sure you show respect for your competitors, shake hands, all that Olympic horse manure.
Not that you’ll get any respect in return.
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