Looking forward to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver...

Ever since 1980 and the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, I have been an Olympic nut. I love the Olympics and can tell you the locations of every Olympics ever held and the year. Some of my favorite movies include Chariots of Fire (about the 1920 Olympics in Paris) and Cool Runnings (about the Jamaican Bobsled team that competed in the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary). I have not missed a single televised opening ceremony since 1984 and I personally attended the games in 2002 in Salt Lake City, watching bobsled, luge, ski-jumping and skeleton events. So it is with a heavy heart that I must admit that I will be boycotting the 2008 Olympic Games.

I will not watch any of the televised coverage. I will not buy any Olympic related merchandise. And I will not show my Olympic colors during the entire affair.

I am not one of these johnny-come-lately free tibet bandwagon jumpers. That's a political issue. I happen to have a strong opinion about it, but ultimately it has nothing to do with the Olympics. And I could care less that the athletes will be sucking down premium smog for 17 days - that's an issue the IOC should have considered before giving the games to Beijing. No, surprisingly, the issue that was the final straw was when China began bullying other nations and depriving other people of their living so that they could make a political statement and wrap it in the Olympic flag.

"Rumors circulating in our national and international media that Mt. Everest will be closed to climb from the Tibet side are false. China will also not limit the number of expeditions in 2008," Ang Tshering Sherpa stated last year, following a meeting with CMA & CTMA attended by high level delegates from Beijing and Lhasa.

This morning however, the President of the Nepal Mountaineering Association too got the pictured notice sent Monday by CTMA to Everest north side expedition leaders. The mountain will be closed, and according to another reliable source, no group visas to enter will be issued until May 10.

Considering the need for acclimatization and infrastructure, climbing Everest north side this spring will be short of impossible. This is a serious blow to Everest climbers and related personnel, many of whom got the notice only one week before their Everest approach is due to begin.

Protests are now being put forward by mountaineers to Chinese officials. "I don't blame CMA/CTMA in Lhasa," a western organizer told ExWeb over phone from KTM this morning, "Beijing is taking over."

This blatant tampering with the Mt. Everest climbing season comes as a result of China's "need" to have a secure route to and from the summit of Mt. Everest so that they can carry the torch to the top. Not only did China close their side of the mountain, but they also pressured Nepal officials to do the same. While this only affects some 70 groups of international climbers in one sense, it also affects the Sherpa communities on either side of the mountain who rely on the income from these expeditions to live. 90% of their yearly income is derived from the very short climbing season. All of which has now been affected by this blatant act of political posturing just so that China can show the world that Mt. Everest is in their domain.

We've seen this act before from a nation trying to show its Iron Will and Political Posturing during an Olympics. It was 1936. And the location of the games was in Berlin.

Quite frankly, I hope the rest of the world shows Beijing that there's more to hosting an Olympics than just pretending that everything is alright. I hope the rest of the world teaches the Chinese government a lesson.

But beyond that, and beyond my personal boycott of the games, I do hope for a peaceful and quiet games. This is the one unique world event where athletes from around the world can compete in unity and in peace. It should remain as pure as it possibly can for as long as it can.