The possibility of world leaders and individual athletes skipping the Beijing Olympics has been getting a lot of attention.

If this is an Olympic year, it must be time for a boycott,鈥� Tony Kornheiser wrote in the New York Times in 1976. That year, many African nations were incensed that New Zealand鈥檚 rugby team had toured ostracized South Africa. Would Africa boycott the Montreal Games in retaliation?

Kornheiser鈥檚 observation hasn鈥檛 aged a bit. As the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Games approach, the sounds of 鈥渂oycott鈥� are being heard again鈥攐ver China鈥檚 heavy-handed rule of Tibet and deadly response to protests in Lhasa, and in retribution for China鈥檚 snug relations with Sudan, whose government is blamed for the ongoing genocide in Darfur. Several politicians鈥攊ncluding Sen. Hillary Clinton鈥攈ave urged President Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies. (The President has announced he will be attending as planned.)

Earlier this year in Paris, protesters forced the relay team to extinguish the Olympic Torch five times, and then take it to its final destination by bus鈥攁 humiliating ride for the flame of humanity鈥檚 highest ideals. Does it presage a boycott next month? Looking back at the history of the modern Olympiad, it鈥檚 clear that, all along, boycotting and banning have been the real sports.

1920 鈥� Antwerp, Belgium
The modern Olympics Games began in 1896, and The Great War had forced their cancellation in 1916. With the resumption of the Olympic spirit in 1920, the defeated powers鈥擥ermany (where the 1916 Games were to have been held), Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey鈥攄id not receive an invitation to play. The brand-new Soviet Union, recovering from its own revolution and civil war, and busy with the Polish-Soviet War, chose not to attend.

Worth a read, to remember the other

Via mental_floss “Boycotting and Banning: The Real Olympic Sports”