Paris Olympics and global agenda

Korea must rethink the rationale for a future bid to host mega events

The “Wide Openness” slogan of the Paris Olympics serves as a powerful statement about the Games’ commitment to inclusivity and community engagement. Successfully implementing this vision is much easier said than done. It requires the extraordinary scale of concerted efforts to address the associated challenges.

One of the most urgent and hardest challenges is security. When I arrived one night before the opening ceremony, I was surprised to see a totally unconventional Paris. I have never seen central Paris so empty of people but full of roadblocks and barricades. This was understandable as the security alert level cannot be higher given the ongoing conflicts in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere. The security burden is also heightened due to the wide openness of the Paris Olympics. It is a complex task to ensure safety and security while maintaining an open and inclusive environment.

Alongside securi
ty, I think there are two more “S’s” that characterize the substantive themes of the Paris Olympics.

The first S is solidarity. The participation of athletes is now numerically equal across genders. The inclusion of citizens is enhanced with greater accessibility.

Particularly noteworthy is the unprecedented level of international involvement in both the security sector and volunteer work with the participation of over 40,000 volunteers. They come from both France and around the world.

Creating an international workforce brings diverse perspectives and best practices. It also fosters a sense of global community. Above all, it showcases a global commitment to peace and collaboration through sports.

Solidarity with refugees is highlighted again in the form of the refugee athletes team competing in the Olympics. Further symbolic was the special recognition given by President Thomas Bach of the International Olympic Committee during the opening ceremony to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in
the presence of the two U.N. Secretaries-General, current and former. The message by Michelle Yeoh, Oscar-winning celebrity, as the new IOC member was deeply touching. The cause of refugees is huge and global. The number of refugees is already at a record high and still rising, not only from conflicts but also from human-induced climate change and natural disasters around the world. The spirit of solidarity is captured well by the new word “together” that was added in 2021 by the IOC to the existing Olympic motto of “faster, higher and stronger.”

The second S is sustainability. A prime goal for the Paris Olympics was to cut the carbon footprint by half compared to previous Olympic Games. For that purpose, various efforts have been made. Sports facilities are built in a way to minimize harm to the environment. Many of them are built as temporary. No air-conditioning is provided in the athletes’ village. The provision of meat is limited to the minimum in both the village and all venues.

These efforts are comm
endable but are sure to fall far short of addressing the impending climate crisis and other sustainability issues. It is also a tough practical challenge to measure and monitor the compliance with the professed goal of halving the carbon emissions. That said, putting a spotlight on sustainability needs to be appreciated. Unless humanity gets the sustainability agenda right, the doomsday clock is certain to be pushed even closer to midnight. We should not relent in the pursuit of the cause of sustainability.

We have already seen varying assessments that keep coming out about the socially avant-garde content regarding the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics. The overall scorecard about the three S’s will take longer to come out. The first scorecard will come out on security. We need to keep our fingers crossed until the final curtain of both the Olympics and Paralympics has come down.

The scorecards on the other two S’s, solidarity and sustainability, will take much longer. Global agenda items for these tw
o S’s are many and complex. They cannot be accomplished overnight. The path ahead will be bumpy with ups and downs. The Paris Olympics will be remembered as a turning point to highlight the urgency of recognizing solidarity and sustainability as the two keys for a better future for humanity.

The Paris Olympics showcases how sports can help shape the global agenda. Sports should not be mixed with but separated from politics. Depoliticized sports can facilitate an impartial agenda being set and a coalition being built.

Korea has been successful in hosting most of the mega sports events like the Olympics and the World Cup. Korea still seems thirsty to host more of them in the future. I believe now the time has come for Korea to rethink the rationale for such future bids. Korea must cease to host for the sake of showcasing its successes. Korea must think deeply about how Korea should and can contribute to shaping the new global agenda through sports. This is one important path Korea can take in its aspiration t
o become a global pivotal state.

Source: Yonhap News Agency