What if no one went to the Summer Olympic Games in China

[The Sushi Bandit]

is it worth going there to spend money and to give validity to their repressive regime?

[Squatch]

1. ...

1916 Imperial Germany
1936 Nazi Germany
1980 USSR
.
.
.
2008 China

[Ishoutandscream2]

4. Wow, the 1916 games were to be in Germany?

That's eerie. The 1940 games were to be in Tokyo.

[Squatch]

5. Yup.

[Ishoutandscream2]

2. I think back to 1980

And how our athletes suffered because of the boycott of the Moscow games. But I've got to say that those games seemed to miss the US presence. A heck of a lot more than the Eastern bloc's boycott of the 84 games in LA.

[The Sushi Bandit]

6. No not a athlete boycott, just a fan boycott

no foreigners in the stands

[SoCalDem]

10. the cost of going to ANY olympics these days prevents most people

and China is an expensive place to visit, so I don't see many "ordinary" folks going. the richie-rich will go.. they always go..

There will be a lot more asians this time around, IF they can get visas :)

My son went to Germany for World Cup and his 8 day trip ended up costing him about $3K.. most people don;t have that much flexibility in their budgets these days to go to China

[JVS]

9. 1980 was sweet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nz1KFcuCt-U

[glowing]

3. No, Besides you'll probably come back with lung cancer.

Aren't they spray painting the grass green because it doesn't grow?

[newyawker99]

14. Hi glowing!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[NewJeffCT]

7. I doubt it will happen

I have a feeling China will be going over the top to impress the world.

China is also probably more liked around the world than us right now

[sutz12]

8. Well, I'm not going...

Not that I have a choice or anything, unless I win the lottery. ;)

[DeepModem Mom]

11. K&R

[Xenotime]

12. China is the next sleeping giant.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. I'd go, because China is a fascinating place

Not necessarily pleasant, but fascinating, and when I visited in 1990, the Chinese people were very friendly.

[Javaman]

15. I'm curious as to how they expect to fill the pools for the

swimming events.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. Isn't the whole point behind the Olympic Games...

to allow athletes to compete despite their governments?