Bob Costas says IOC deserves ‘disdain and disgust’ over Beijing Games

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Give sports legend Bob Costas a perfect 10 for telling it like it is on the coming Winter Olympics in China.

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Costas says the International Olympic Committee (IOC) deserves nothing but “disdain and disgust” for its shamelessness in holding the Games in a country with such troubling human rights abuses.

“The IOC deserves all of the disdain and disgust for going back to China yet again,” Costas told CNN’s Brian Stelter on Reliable Sources.

Costas noted that the Games were held in Beijing in 2008 and then Russia in 2014. Neither country has covered itself in glory when it comes to human rights.

“They’re shameless about this stuff. And so, this takes place not only amid COVID, but as you mentioned, the restrictions on press freedom and the sense that everyone there is being monitored in some way,” Costas said.

“We had that feeling in Beijing in 2008. If anything, it’s been ramped up now. It isn’t just NBC. Any network that broadcasts big sports is simultaneously in a position of being quasi-journalistic at best.

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“You’re reporting on an event but you’re also promoting that event,” he said. “News organizations like CNN don’t pay a rights fee to cover the White House. NBC pays a huge rights fee along with the production cost. They want people to watch it. It’s a centrepiece of the entire network strategy.”

Even a number of teams — including Team Canada and Team USA — have advised members to use burner phones because of the high likelihood of surveillance by China’s omnipresent security apparatus.

The Asian giant has been accused of a slew of rights abuses, including imposing sterilization, rape and even slavery on the minority Uyghur Muslim population.

Will the networks hosting the Games bring up the China problem?

“I would anticipate what they’ll do is acknowledge the [(geopolitical) issues at the beginning, and then address them only if something specific that cannot be ignored happens during the Games, which very well may happen,” Costas said.

He added that pandemic restrictions will torpedo NBC’s efforts to get around the country.

“Now, there’s just a greater understanding of everything that China represents,” Costas said.

“Obviously there are other great abusers around the world, but given China’s size, influence and resources, you can make a very good case — Human Rights Watch has said it’s very high on the list of worst human rights abusers — and people are more aware of it now. It’s almost impossible to paper it over.”

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