Was it a good idea to choose Russia for the 2014 winter Olympic games?
It was certainly a better idea to choose Russia for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games than, say, Morocco. That may sound facetious, but Russia has the ideal climate and landscape for such a competition. If we start ruling out certain countries because we don’t like their politicians, then we are on the slippery slope of making what should be a peaceful competition into a political weapon. Every country in the world has the right to bid for worldwide sporting contests such as the Olympics and the World Cup. Those competitions belong to the people. They bring happiness to millions of normal people. Of course the politicians would like to hijack the events, but we must resist this at all costs. Russia has staged major events in the past and put on a good show. So, why should we stop her taking part now? If the decision where to host major events were to be taken by countries which do not get on with the West, then we would never have the Olympics in Europe, the World Cup would be held in Iran
