This house would boycott the Sochi Olympics - Poll result and moderator's report

Dear readers, the motion of this debate was "This House would boycott the Sochi Olympics". That is a very interesting debate, and because the OG have begun last week, opinions must be given. The two sides gave elaborated arguments, and I will try to highlight the main clash points of this debate. (Continues below.)

By WY

There were several important topic that both sides decided to argue about. The first one dealt with the fact that Wladimir Putin, the current president of Russia, is not the cleanest president. First, YH explained that Putin has been elected in a questionable context, mixing frauds with ballot stuffing… And because of that, going to Sochi would be accepting his politics. An argument that JD qualified as too simple. The world is really complex, and « bad Russia, bad Putin » is a too simple opinion. In fact, JD proposed to open ourselves to Russia, this special and shutdown country. Another issue brought up by Putin was how he used to OG to give a good impression. The proposing team suggested that the release of a political opponent happened only to cover the anti-gay propaganda law. The opposing team responded by explaining that those are not our business, and that we should not interfere in Russia’s internal affairs. An argument often retaken by the prop, saying that « minding our own business » is the same as doing nothing. However, in the second opposing speech, ET explained that the homoseuxality problem is very different in this country. Indeed, until 1993 homosexuality was a crime in Russia, and until 1999 it was considered a mental disease. That is why even if it is slow, Russia is going in the right direction.

Another important clash point was the fact that sports and politics are or are not linked. YH said that in Ancien Greece, cities which were at war allowed their athletes to go at the enemy’s city for the OG, because those cities had the same ideologies.  Then, the opposing team underlined the fact that indeed, we should put our political desagreement into parenthesis ! The OG are a gift, and we should enjoy it. At the end, GG went on this argument again, and showed that indeed, we should pause and nothing else !

Finally, one of the main topic was how the athletes would consider the boycott. JD gave his the opposing team opinion : not going to Sochi would be a terrible loss for them (and also for the public). That’s why the proposers said that « it’s a lot to ask to the athletes ». The opposers responded by saying « boycotting the OG would be a bit tough » and would sounds like a Russian law ! Indeed, those trained for 4 years, and would miss it because their government impose it. The third proposer then said that they do not trained just for this event, and that they can still compete, independantly from their country.

To conclude, if I had to give my opinion, I would give the victory to the opposing team. I find their argument more elaborated, and more powerful.

WY