Defecto-lympics

By Sumer Dayal

The London Olympics have drawn to a close – and so has the chance for distressed athletes to defect in the pursuit of a better life. Seven Cameroonians are counting themselves lucky that the U.K has a policy of accepting asylum seekers.

As celebrated and iconic as the Olympic Games is, it always suffers its share of hubris – a sporting event promoting unity, collegiality and happy fun times is used as the perfect platform to show how disruptive the world actually is. The time of celebration is the moment some Olympians choose to run away from the hellhole that awaits them on their return home; destroying the illusion of the perfect global community we have festered into us for a fortnight, where the worst thing that can happen is James Magnussen missing out on Olympic Gold (credit to him for keeping his smile on in the face of all the ridiculous backlash).

So how dangerous have the Olympics been for their host nation? Let’s take a look at some case studies.

London 1948

Notable for being the first defection by Maria Provaznikova, President of the International Gymnastics Federation. She refused to return to her native Czechoslovakia after it became a satellite of the Soviet Union. This was a high profile lady - Maria spent her days in the U.S, and the Olympic defections of the following decades up until the 80’s were characterised by modest defections mainly due to political upheaval caused by Cold War politics.

Sydney 2000

Go Australia! If there’s anything we have the Gold in, it’s defections. Top prize goes to four Tunisian athletes who disappeared, including boxer Naoufel Ben Rabah who is now an Australian citizen. According to the Daily Telegraph, Australia found itself hunting upwards of 108 people who overstayed their visas. Illegals were from 61 countries, including 79 members of the Olympic family and 29 coaches, officials and reporters. Some 30 people eventually filed refugee claims.

This doesn’t include Melbourne 1956, when 45 Hungarians decided to stay in Melbourne due to the Soviet Union invading their homeland.

So the characteristics of modern Olympic defections seem to be escape from poverty to obvious greener pastures. But if you don’t have any green pastures, then of course there is nothing to worry about. Case in point – 2008.

Beijing 2008

Defect? Who on Earth would defect to China? Well you’re right – the answer is nobody. All the defections of 2008 happened before the Beijing Olympics. Cuba took the Gold medal with twelve members disappearing at their training camp in the U.S. Notable mentions go to three Egyptian boxers as well as a female Afghan athlete who disappeared from her training camp in Italy.

China must have been bitterly disappointed.

London 2012

I am incredibly surprised that only seven members from one Olympic nation have applied for asylum, given that today’s political climate is one the most volatile in the last twenty years. Territorial disputes, regime changes, revolutions, civil wars – and only seven Cameroonians decide to defect?

Nevertheless, defections are a common practice and a stark reminder that the world isn’t all Gold, Silver and Bronze, even during the Olympics.

As I write, South Korean footballer Park Jong-woo is being investigated for holding up a banner with a “political statement” about Japanese claims to the Dokdo/Takeshima Islands. The International Olympic Committee specifically prohibits political statements by athletes, as if the problems of the world have no place in the Olympic mirage.

Yet somehow the defining image of any Olympics is John Carlos and Tommie Smith (along with our brave Australian, Peter Norman) holding up their black gloves for American Civil Rights in 1968.

The Olympics is more than just games. If instead of closing our eyes we take this grand opportunity to really explore the issues some of our brethren in the world face, then maybe the Olympics can truly bring us together, and countries will no longer have to worry about who is going to defect this time round.