For the week of Jan. 23, 2022:
Drew Neilson is ashamed of the Games.
Two-time Olympic snowboarder Drew Neilson hopes athletes in Beijing 2022 will make a subtle, C-shaped gesture for “change” (Mackin)
The 2007 world cup snowboard cross champion competed for Canada at the Turin 2006 and Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. The North Vancouverite is one of a few athletes to call for a full boycott of Beijing 2022 over China’s human rights abuses against Uyghurs, Tibetans and Hong Kongers.
“Being an Olympian, the IOC holds you to very high standards of social responsibility and equality and things to live your life in Olympism, and I feel I’ve been cheated by the IOC taking the Games to places like this,” said Neilson, the featured guest on this week’s theBreaker.news Podcast. “I don’t want to be called an Olympian anymore because I don’t want to be associated to that committee anymore, the International Olympic Committee, because they’re doing dirty business with the devil.”
Neilson said China is also not a safe place for athletes to compete, due to the ongoing pandemic that originated in China and because of China’s surveillance state where athletes are threatened with arrest should they speak out.
“It’s very evident how deeply entrenched the IOC is with the [Chinese Communist Party] to make this happen and make as much money as possible,” he said.
Listen to Neilson’s interview with host Bob Mackin.
Plus Pacific Rim and Pacific Northwest headlines and commentary.
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