Salt Lake City,

October 24, 2001 4:17 PM

Salt Lake City, host of the 2002 Winter Olympics, received a surprise when IOC member Gerhard Heiberg suggested maybe the 2002 games shouldn't go on as planned. He later retracted his remarks, but I think he made a valid point. Should a country be hosting the Olympics while at war?
posted by mr_crash_davis (10 comments total)

Unless this escalates into WWIII (doubtful), I don't see why they shouldn't go on. The Olympics have only been cancelled during the World Wars, as far as I know.
posted by donkeyschlong at 5:23 PM on October 24, 2001

There is always a war going on somewhere... what better way to thumb our noses at the carnage than to celebrate the family of nations?

The issue of not holding the games was actually floated here (in SLC), but was quickly dismissed.
posted by silusGROK at 5:26 PM on October 24, 2001

There's a difference between holding the games while there's a war somewhere and holding the games in a nation that is directly, actively involved in an military conflict. Right now we are facing a foe that delights in their sneaky, devious and underhanded methodology. They have threatened to bring violence to us in any strategic location they can reach. They have shown an obvious willingness to murder innocent civilians to attempt to prove their point.

The games may not be cancelled, nor will the World Series, Super Bowl or other large, massively publicised event which will draw a huge crowd on-site and a television audience in the hundreds of millions. But you wouldn't find me at any of them for anything, and I know that I'm not alone in that conviction.
posted by Dreama at 7:14 PM on October 24, 2001

And were the Berlin Games cancelled? No...
posted by pooldemon at 7:11 AM on October 25, 2001

I'll be working at the Games... and I'm not worried a bit. Come... don't come... it's your choice, of course. But we'll have fun either way.
posted by silusGROK at 7:27 AM on October 25, 2001

And were the Berlin Games cancelled? No...

Were they at war in 1936? No...
posted by dagnyscott at 7:46 AM on October 25, 2001

Um... "March 7, 1936 - Nazis occupy the Rhineland"... sounds like war to me. Sure, the US wasn't in on it for a few more years, but that shouldn't restrict our recollection of history.

Source: Holocaust Timeline
posted by silusGROK at 9:56 AM on October 25, 2001

Before the beginning of the [ancient] Olympic festival, all Greek cities suspended hostilities for a prescribed period. Greeks called this truce "ekecheiria", that is, the holding of hands and the break of hostilities.
posted by Carol Anne at 10:08 AM on October 25, 2001

Before the beginning of the [ancient] Olympic festival, all Greek cities suspended hostilities for a prescribed period. Greeks called this truce "ekecheiria", that is, the holding of hands and the break of hostilities.
posted by Carol Anne at 10:08 AM on October 25, 2001

Sorry about the double post!
posted by Carol Anne at 10:10 AM on October 25, 2001