I used to complain about how much of Northern Virginia winters were spent in the rain, but the deluge overnight here, which is going to restart any minute, could not be more welcome. My neighborhood has been iced-over for weeks, with snow on the ground longer than any time during my decades long residence. (Naturally, this is just more evidence of climate change and global warming, “experts” say, and they know best.) The warm rain is ending that, meaning that walking my over-enthusiastic dog, Spuds, will no longer be life-threatening…at least not as life threatening.
I have too many things I want to write about, and as always, I am hoping to find some guest posts (as in “you write about it so I don’t have to” posts) here today when the dust settles. Olympics ethics stories will be especially welcome, because I refuse to watch the hypocritical spectacle or read about it unless someone sends me a tip. I am very tempted, however, to write about Elaine Gu, the all-American super-star skier who competes representing China in this Winter Olympics. According to the Wall Street Journal, Gu and Zhu Yi, a fellow American-born figure skater who now competes for China, were paid a combined $6.6 million by the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau in 2025 for “striving for excellent results in qualifying for the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics.” In all, the two were reportedly paid nearly $14 million over the past three years. The payments were revealed when the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau budget was posted online with the names of Gu and Zhu. Their names have since been scrubbed from the public report.”
Nice. Gu is revolting, and it also proves how far the Olympic have come from their original roots of extolling amateur athletic competition. Gu still is paid by some American corporations to be their sponsors. They are also revolting. Gu’s betrayal of her own nation raises the ethical issue of dual citizenship. She’s a great walking, talking, greedy, ethically-inert example of why we shouldn’t allow it.
But don’t get me started. You get started…
Ethics Alarms 
I am curious about commenters’ feelings about the Olympic Games. I of course follow what the Dutch team is doing, and I am proud of the team. Watching ice skating is like watching national soccer in the Netherlands, with families or pub patrons staring at the television and cheering. Sports is one of those things that arouses warm national feelings in the Netherlands. That is one of the things I miss in the USA.
I wonder what the USA commenters think about their team. I see a lot of complaints on conservative channels about the spirit of the USA team and their lack of ambassadorship. Amber Glenn was mocked for her performance. Here is what Yahoo had to say:
“During a press conference on Feb. 4, Glenn, who is the first openly queer woman to represent the United States in Olympic figure skating, said it has been “a hard time” for her community under the Trump administration, adding she hopes to use her platform to “try and encourage people to stay strong.” Her remarks came after she was asked how she felt about the president and his treatment of LGBTQ people.“
Then there is Eileen Gu, a dual citizen of both USA and China who lives in the USA but decides to represent China at the Olympics.
What does the Olympic Games tell us about the national self-awareness and patriotism in the USA? My impression is that there are some health issues with how the citizens of the USA see their own nation.
Ms. Glenn’s “hard time” is a figment of her imagination as well as the projection of a notion (“the Trump Administration will be hard on LGTBQ people”) into a perceived reality…which is no reality at all. Those people have the same rights and privileges they had when Slo Jo was slobbering down his Jell-O in the captain’s chair of the ship of state…ok, maybe some of the “T” people can no longer go into a girls’ bathroom or play in sports in which they’re not biologically pre-disposed to compete, but that’s it.
Clearly, some of the “letter” people are delusional in more than one dimension. I wonder why Ms. Glenn didn’t go to a devoutly Muslim country and seek to represent them in the Olympics. Could it be that the “hard time” she would face there is somewhat more visceral than here in the U.S.?
I agree. Glenn should have concentrated on her skating. The error she made in free skate prelims was a result of lack of focus. That 6 point loss determined the outcome of the finals.
As for her sexuality, nobody – and I mean nobody – cares. All spectators want to see is high level performances. The gold medalist, Alysa Liu, was a joy to watch. The silver and bronze medalists from Japan were wonderful. The wolf dog bronze medalist in the crosscountry ski showed the heart of a champion. And those downhill and slalom racers are from another planet. Curling is the best though, even when the Canadians are accused of cheating – they even argued politely. The Italian curler is fantastic.
As for the overall question, though, it has been obvious for decades that the Olympics has not been about amatuer competitors. The Soviets always had professional skates on their hockey teams. Swimmers, runners, hockey players (mostly professional players), basketball players, skaters, snowboarders, and the like, sign huge endorsement deals (I read somewhere that Gu is worth north of $20 million from endorsements). Track and field athletes born in Desmoines, Iowa, attending colleges in Texas, Georgia, and/or Florida somehow have Jamaican citizenship to compete on that country’s track and field team. There was a snowboarder, born and raised in the Northeast competing for Great Britian. That means nationality and citizenship are irrelevant to the Games. It is all about Big Olympics. Nothing more. Oh, and don’t ecen think about steroid “scandals.”
jvb
Cees: U.S. population in 2024 approximately 340 million; Netherlands population approximately 18 million. The games of the Winter Olympics are all niche sports. Skeleton? I bet there are more than 18 million rabid U.S. ice hockey fans watching the men’s tournament. Norway’s population is 5.4 million, fewer than the population of metropolitan Phoenix. Norway is leading the medal count over the U.S. who are in second place. I bet there are five million rabid U.S. fans of each of the various winter Olympic sports. With baseball, football and basketball, who has time for speed skating when it only freezes in certain parts of the country?
European countries are small and homogeneous. The U.S. is large and heterogeneous. No comparison. But I will say, European countries such as Germany, the U.K., and The Netherlands are well on their way to losing their homogeneous populations due to bone-headed immigration policies.
Don’t have time to analyze, but: thoughts on Colorado’s decision to legalize protitution?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/colorado-bill-to-decriminalize-prostitution-sparks-fierce-opposition-debate/ar-AA1WHT8q?ocid=BingNewsSerp
-Jut
Interesting that the first justification for the bill is that “sex workers” need to feel comfortable reporting crimes to law enforcement. This is the same justification used for not enforcing immigration law, i.e., illegals need to be comfortable reporting crimes to law enforcement. The same argument could be made for legalizing bank robbery: bank robbers need to be comfortable reporting crimes to law enforcement.