[ronaldx]

OK, yes, it's this attitude which I was disagreeing with:

Sports and politics may be innately interconnected, but that doesn't mean we should seek to make sports even more political.

To have a requirement that the Olympics is hosted only in countries with political approval by [Stephen Fry/Western cultural values] would prevent it from having any global influence. Should the Olympics ultimately alternate between the EU and the US? Obviously not.

It's a good thing that political and cultural values of a country are not or are minimally part of the bidding and selection process.

If you're not aware, the IOC requires bidding countries to commit to IOC laws - which include special treatment and legal exemptions for athletes and visitors who may not otherwise be welcome. Although not without problems, I find that a sufficient way to make countries fall in line with the Olympic tradition without directly interfering with their local political process.

[alexakarpov]

"Make sports even more political" -- this is our disagreement, yes. You think sports and politics are somehow 'independent things' -- but they aren't. Best parallel would be: money and wealth and private property and capital and production are all connected. Communists said they really aren't, and should be made 'less connected' - somehow, they want to have production without everything else. Well, we all know it doesn't work this way. Same here -- you can't artificially disconnect 'politics' from 'sport'. It will remain connected... because it is connected!

[ronaldx]

You have not addressed my main point, so I will simplify it:

The Olympics cannot judge a host country for its political values, or it would have a strong cultural bias and not be a global event.

[alexakarpov]

sorry, didn't realize this was the main point

I've never read the Olympics code, list of principles etc, but I can imagine there's something about human dignity and freedom and liberty? Well, liberty should be a lowest common denominator. I.e. -- your culture allows some people to enslave and oppress other people, and deny them life, property and dignity? Well your culture is a piece of shit and you don't host Olympics. Easy! Cultural bias? Sure - cultural bias of human against blood-sucking goblins doesn't sound too bad.