It’s time for Rogge to speak out

Are you listening, Jacques Rogge?

Do you hear the growing uproar from world leaders expressing their discontent about China as the Olympics approach?

Or are you doing the whole see-no, speak-no, hear-no-evil thing, as protesters dog the Olympic torch relay in reaction to China’s treatment of unrest in Tibet?

Then maybe you still are unaware the world is no longer waiting for you, as president of the International Olympic Committee, to issue a meaningful statement instead of anodyne, defensive pap (“we’re not a political organization”).

At the end of last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel joined an expanding list of leaders likely to stay away from the opening ceremony. Poland’s prime minister, the Czech Republic’s president and the European Parliament’s chair have taken a similar position. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has broached the subject.

Such a ceremonial boycott is an honorable and justifiable move. It slaps China in the face without jeopardizing the participation of athletes. A boycott of the Games would be counterproductive and, barring some heinous action by the Chinese, should not be considered.

Some German athletes in water sports are talking about wearing bathrobes the color of those worn by Tibetan monks to express solidarity and show concern for human rights problems in China.

One of the greatest recent Olympic athletes, Dutch swimmer Pieter van den Hoogenband, called on you to speak out, Jacques.

While expressing his own concern about human rights issues in China, the two-time 100-meter champion had another reason for asking you to appeal for improved human rights, a reason you should appreciate. Van den Hoogenband, who is training for the Beijing Games, said an IOC statement would take pressure off those athletes who don’t feel as comfortable as he does discussing the situation.

“This would allow athletes to refer to the position of the IOC when asked for their own opinion on this sensitive issue,” Van den Hoogenband wrote in his column in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

Yes, this mixes politics and the Olympics, but that is nothing new. Remember the IOC’s admirable decision to ban South Africa because its Olympic committee hewed to the politics of South African governments who legislated racial discrimination?

The 2001 decision to give the Games to China was largely political and commercial, even if the technical quality of its bid was unquestionably excellent.

It was about giving the IOC’s global sponsors a chance to ingrain themselves in the Chinese market and about allowing the world’s most populous country to loom even larger on the global stage.

So, Jacques, you can keep defying common sense by saying the IOC is not a political organization.

How about an irrelevant one?

Philip Hersh covers Olympic sports for The Times and the Chicago Tribune.