The demand that politics and sport should be kept apart was always a pious hope when it came to the Beijing Olympics. The games often have strong political undertones. It is inevitable that any Olympics held in China will be especially politically charged.

Although it is not always comfortable to acknowledge the fact, some of the most memorable Olympic moments have come precisely when politics impinged upon the games. Most notoriously, there were the Berlin Olympics of 1936, which showcased Hitler’s Germany, and the terrorist attacks on the Munich Olympics of 1972.