If you try to navigate from the IOC website to that of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Association, you are met by an internet silence. Perhaps it was my dodgy internet, but this accessibility failure struck a chord. The Saudis do not believe in accessibility. They believe in denying accessibility of the most basic kind, that of a woman's right to play sport. They deny plenty other rights, too, but sport is the area in focus as the Olympics approach. Saudi Arabia do not buy into the most basic tenets of the Olympic movement, Olympism and the Olympic Charter. They should be expelled from the IOC until they include a female athlete in their Olympic team.
Even the most basic glance at the IOC website confirms what the Olympics are all about: 'Sport For All.' All, all all all. Everyone! Some more aims: "to build a better world through sport;" and the true Olympic values of friendship, excellence, respect. Again, Saudi Arabia falls short. They do not respect women. Janice Turner summed it up perfectly in the Times: "sexual apartheid."
The IOC's 6 fields of activity are: development through sport, grassroots, environment, education through sport, peace through sport, and finally, women in sport. So how can a country that so flagrantly and so blatantly disagrees with everything the Olympics stands for be allowed to compete? Many have pointed to Saudi Arabia's oil wealth and the resulting influence they hold with power to wield. I think it goes a little further.
The answer lies in a growing uber-liberal apologist attitude in the West so keen to uphold and respect a nation's right to hold beliefs, especially if they are different to how we view the world. Such an attitude misses the point. Saudi Arabia is welcome to make laws on whatever it wishes but, crucially, it does not have a pre-ordained right to take part in the Olympics.
Some might argue that it is Saudi Arabia's religious beliefs the leads to their 'sexual apartheid' and so who are we to meddle in their affairs and impose our ideology on them? This is also missing the point. Religion doesn't make it any less abhorrent and certainly not less open for question.
The Olympics stand for certain things, certain ideologies - this needn't be a dirty word. Women in sport is one of these. This is not a political issue, it is one for the IOC. When South Africa excluded black people from its teams they were excommunicated until they sent a team representative of their nation. The same should happen with Saudi Arabia.
Are we, the Olympic community, so scared of offending people and saying, "No, this is wrong, women do deserve to represent your country and if you don't agree then we will carry on without you." There is a definite and clear Olympic ideology - a very positive one, in my opinion. This is not an imposition of our view of the world, it is simply laying out the conditions of entry - no team has a divine right to be a part of the Olympic movement.
What are we scared of? The IOC should have enough faith in what it believes in to put a stop to this and say that they will not be bullied by misogynistic, sexist rulers who don't sign up to what the Olympics should be all about.
The Olympic movement, from Pakistan to Peckham, should wake up and start believing in Olympism with such a fanatical force that the IOC can no longer ignore everything they believe in. The Olympic message is a positive one, we must not be afraid of shouting this from the roof of the Olympic stadium. It's time the IOC put some firm action behind the slogans and say good riddance to any countries that disagree.
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