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The Times - Right now all the torch represents is China – the sport comes later, by Simon Barnes, Chief Sports Writer

At the Olympic Games, bullshit and beauty walk hand in hand. The event totters under the weight of portentous symbols; pious talk of world peace and universal love never ceases; politicians and corporations fight and pay for the Olympic zing. But the only Olympic truth is in the action.

And the hotness of the Australian men’s swim team. But never mind.

But the extraneous stuff of torches and flames and vows and dancing children and dreams and doves touches me very little. Opening and closing ceremonies are occasions I try to swerve; seen one vision of world peace, you’ve seen ’em all. I can get bullshit at home. Give me the action, whether it comes from a Tsukahara from a wisp of gymnast, a clean and jerk from a super-heavyweight weightlifter or the passage and piaffe of a mighty dressage horse.

Or the Australian men’s swim team.

Organisers love the symbols. But the sacred flame, stolen from the gods by Prometheus, relit on Mount Olympus for every Olympiad by the rays of the Sun with the assistance of 11 priestesses in exiguous garments, is something that leaves me cold.

You know what doesn’t leave me cold? Okay sorry, this is important. (Answer: the Australian men’s swim team!)

On, then, to the sacred torch relay. This does not go back to Classical times: it was invented to glorify Hitler. It was first used at the Berlin Games of 1936. It took eight days and involved 3,422 runners. There were 86,000 runners for the torch relay that ended in Athens four years ago; there will be 137,000 for the relay that ends in Beijing this summer. They plan to take the torch up Mount Everest; London, even now, will be wondering how to top that.

(For crying out loud.) I know! They could run the torch up the steps of the Potala Palace at night and wave it around so on camera it forms the letters F-R-E-E-T-I-B-E-T.

It becomes a sitting duck for protesters, a Beijing duck if you like. That is because China is using the Olympic Games for its own self-aggrandisement.

Hitler wanted the Games for exactly the same reason. Mind you, so did Tony Blair, speaking up for the London Games of 2012. The Olympic Games are always about self-aggrandisement but the host nation perpetually thinks we won’t notice, distracted as we are by the eternal flame and the world peace bullshit.

This dude is hilarious. He should write on matters of geopolitical importance more often.

Right now, the Olympic torch represents not peace, not brotherhood, but China, and the contrast between its self-aggrandising Olympic ambitions and its record on human rights. It certainly doesn’t represent sport. But that, at least, will come later.

Hmm. Maybe:

Still, a boycott of the opening ceremony by leaders of free nations might actually come off. The French seem to be seriously pondering it.

All sort of other ideas for embarrassing the ChiCom gangsters are buzzing around. Some are suggesting, for example, that athletes simply not show up for the opening ceremonies. (They are not required to by their Olympic contract.) There is also the idea, which I rather like, that an entire national team might shave their heads the night before the ceremony to show solidarity with Tibetan monks and nuns, the bravest and most persecuted of Tibetan patriots.

At the Olympics, the Maoists will be dealing with free people from free nations, and there is only so much they can do to control them. It’s not clear they understand this. They’ve been living for decades in a bubble of unchallenged power, and are not very imaginative. The opportunities for embarrassment are endless, and the prospect of it very delicious to anyone who loves liberty. Personally, I hope their stinking Olympics is a huge fiasco, and I see encouraging signs it may be.