The Sochi Games a "Teachable Moment For The World"

 In February, athletes the world over will converge on Sochi, Russia, for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The games will feature athletes seeking to live out their dreams of going for the gold.

For a number of reasons, people have been calling for the government to consider boycotting Sochi because of the controversy surrounding Russia potentially offering whistle-blower Edward Snowden asylum rather than returning him to the United States to face trial.  Others have expressed concerns regarding the country recently enacting new anti-gay laws. LGBT activists asked the U.S. to boycott Sochi for that reason, even though Olympics officials tried to assuage concerns that out athletes and LGBT tourists from other countries might be victims of the new laws.

The idea of boycotting an Olympics obviously is not a new one. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter announced the United States would not send its athletes to Moscow, and the Soviets responded in kind by boycotting the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The United States has had a longstanding embargo on Cuba shortly after Fidel Castro assumed full dictatorial control over that country.

The respective boycotts of each country's Olympics didn't do much to hurt their respective governments. Carter gave Moscow an ultimatum to withdraw from Afghanistan within one month, while Moscow's boycott was seen as retaliation. The embargo slapped on Cuba by the United States largely prevents American goods and citizens from traveling to Cuba.

In the case of a potential boycott of Sochi, regardless of whether Snowden or the anti-gay laws are the primary reason for implementing it, forbidding American athletes from attending Sochi would hurt the athletes themselves much more than it would damage the prestige of Russia.

Figure skater Johnny Weir wrote an op-ed for "The Falls Church News-Press" in which he called on the United States to decide against a boycott.  "The people that were hurt most by the United State’s decision to boycott the Moscow Olympics in 1980 were the athletes who’d dedicated their lives to possibly having their one life-changing moment in Moscow, in front of the world, where they could display their sporting expertise and themselves as personalities," Weir wrote. He also addressed the sacrifices families make for their otherwise Olympics-bound offspring who would be prevented from competing.  "To have a boycott would not only negate the career of some athletes who have only one chance at competing at the Games, but also the over-time shifts an exhausted father takes to make ends meet, or the social acclimatization of a brother who can’t go on spring break because his brother needed another costume, or the mother who works part-time at a job far beneath her, just so she can afford to watch her first born perform for the world."

Weir also warned against playing politics with a decision about sending a delegation to the Olympics. "The Olympics are not a political statement, they are a place to let the world shine in peace and let them marvel at their youthful talents," he said.

Regardless of whether the Snowden saga or anti-gay laws are the reason for a would-be boycott, actually prohibiting American athletes from traveling to Sochi would be a mistake that would provide further erosion of already fragile relations between Moscow and Washington.

America's most famous openly-gay athlete, diver Greg Louganis, wrote a piece four days ago with the unambiguous headline: "I'm An Openly Gay Gold Medalist and I Reject the Sochi Olympics Boycott".

"Boycotting sends the wrong message and will only harm the hard-working athletes set to compete in the 2014 Olympics, not the Russian government itself," he wrote.  "I know from personal experience. My first Olympics I won Silver at age 16, and then in 1980, at the height of my diving career, President Jimmy Carter opted to boycott the 1980 Olympics in Moscow as a method of protesting the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan. The toll on fellow athletes and me was devastating. We had trained our entire lives for that one moment.  Fortunately, I was lucky enough to continue my diving career and return to compete and win two gold medals in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles (an Olympics the Eastern Block counties boycotted) and repeat two gold medals in 1988 Olympics in Seoul. But, other athletes were not so lucky. Some of those who missed the 1980 games never had another chance to shine. This boycott hurt the wrong people, taking a toll on prominent athletes more than the country it targeted.  I'm concerned the same would be true today. There are far too many athletes for whom the 2014 Sochi Olympics represents their only chance at success. A boycott will only hurt these athletes' careers."

Louganis said he planned to use the Sochi Games as a "teachable moment for the world".

"As athletes, the most valuable thing we can do is send a strong, unified message to Russia and its president that we will not stand for this cruel and repressive treatment. We will not stop until gay people in Russia are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve," he wrote.

Regardless of whether the Snowden saga or anti-gay laws are the reason for a would-be boycott, actually prohibiting American athletes from traveling to Sochi would be a mistake hurting only lives of the young men and women who have worked so hard and sacrificed so much to get to where they are.  They have waited for this chance to represent their country with pride and to hear the cheers of support from the American people.  Don’t deny them that moment.  There are other ways to make our voices heard and to make it known to the Russian Government that we do not agree with their in-human laws.  But we can’t do it on the backs of these young athletes who are blameless in this war of human rights.  I want to see equality achieved as much as anyone else but I won’t do it by stepping on the back of someone who has sacrificed and worked so hard to achieve a dream.