Thomas Bach, who is the President of the International Olympic Committee, is not as important as he would have you believe. Bach somehow thinks that he and the International Olympic Committee are somehow responsible for the possibility of North Korea and South Korea finding some common ground to improve the relationship between the two countries. Bach needs to be reminded that Dennis Rodman was also invited to North Korea and the former National Basketball Association player did not help end the United States-North Korea War which started in 1950 and technically is still going on as there was only a truce in 1953 to stop the fighting. Rodman did not get a Peace in Our Time deal from North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong- Un but they did hang out and watch basketball together.
The International Olympic Committee is not all that powerful although IOC leaders believe the group is important. The International Olympic Committee thinks and acts as if it is a sovereign nation complete with a flag and official permanent observer status at the United Nations. The IOC can make demands of cities that include having local taxpayers pick up the bills of cost overruns at an Olympics or close off roads in order for IOC officials to get to a venue without having to sit in traffic. But it is up to local politicians and elected officials to cave and give into the IOC. When it comes to real world issues, Bach and the International Olympic Committee are paper tigers and have no teeth. The IOC talks about legacy but what is the legacy of the 1984 Sarajevo, Yugoslavia Olympics? That country no longer exists. The IOC put an Olympics in Beijing in 2008 and in Sochi in 2014 despite protests from human rights organizations about China and Russia’s policies. Bach has not addressed North Korea’s human rights issue but neither did Dennis Rodman. The Games Must Go On.
Thomas Bach should not win a Nobel Peace Prize.
