Free China won friends rather than medals at the Montreal Olympic Games. The team never made it across the Canadian border. Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's government broke its solemn pledges to the International Olympic Committee and declined to permit the participation of the Republic of China. Canada said the team could compete as "Taiwan" but could not use the word "China" in any way and also would not be allowed to fly its flag or play the Chinese national anthem.
Canada's decision - obviously made in collusion with the Chinese Communist regime, which Ottawa recognized in 1970 - was kept a careful secret until almost the eve of the Games. The delay was deliberate. If the Canadians had made their intentions known earlier, the Olympics almost certainly would have been moved. But with only a few weeks to go, the choice had to be between staging the Games without the Republic of China or calling them off entirely. Neither the free Chinese team nor Olympic Committee had any wish to see hundreds of the world's greatest athletes robbed of their opportunity to compete.
Peiping purchases grain from the Canadians. There were reports that the barring of the Republic of China was a. part of the Chinese Communists' price for future orders. Other sources told of easy loans made to the Canadians by Red China to finance the Olympic facilities at Montreal.
On May 28 - with the Olympics scheduled to open on July 17 - Mitchell Sharp, the Canadian acting secretary of state for external affairs, wrote Lord Killanin, president of the International Olympic Committee, that his government could not allow the participation of the Republic of China because Canada recognized Peiping. Lord Killanin responded on June 8 that the Canadian decision was in "complete conflict" with the Olympic principle of barring discrimination against participants on grounds of race, religion or political affiliation. He also said that Canada was violating the conditions under which Montreal was awarded the Games, and pointed out that the Canadian Olympic Committee had already invited the ROC to compete. The Irish Olympic leader said that the ROC was not only a full-fledged member of the International Committee, but that its athletes had competed in the Innsbruck Winter Games.
"During the period of the Games, the International Olympic Committee is the supreme authority," Lord Killanin said. "Since Hitler endeavored to interfere in the Berlin Olympic Games, it has always been accepted by all organizing countries that any actions which would include the nomenclature of Olympic committees, flags and anthems are the prerogative of the IOC and the National Olympic Committees." Canada, he said, was taking a step which could have "a most damaging long-term impact on the effort of keeping the Olympic Games and international sport free from government interference."
The United States strongly supported Lord Killanin. In a telegram to the Montreal organizing committee, Philip O. Krumm, president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said, "The USOC strongly protests and urges immediate reconsideration of the action taken by the Canadian government to restrict the participation of the Taiwanese National Olympic Committee (a member in good standing of the IOC) in the 1976 Olympic Games. If the Games are declared by the IOC not to be official, we seriously question United States of America participation. The Games must remain free from international politics."
On July 2, the president of the Republic of China Olympic Committee, said that China would not change the name of its team and would fly its national flag. The Chinese team of 42 athletes and a number of officials had already received identity cards from the Canadian Olympic Committee. Under Olympic regulations, such cards are regarded as sufficient for admission to the host country. No visas are required. Dr. Henry Hsu, the IOC member for the Republic of China, predicted that other members of the Olympic Committee would support the ROC, "which has always followed IOC and the Olympic spirit" without regard to politics. He pointed out that the Canadians were violating a written commitment.
On July 4, Lord Killanin said the Olympic image had been "tarnished" by Canada's "political interference." He said that several international Olympic federations had protested against the Canadian action. He arrived in Montreal the next day to discuss the problem with other IOC leaders. Montreal was awarded the Games in 1970, he said, with the agreement that all National Olympic Committees be admitted for participation under stipulations of the IOC. The Canadian precedent, he added, "could be dangerous, especially in the long term. I am not talking about 1980 but about 1984 and beyond." Canada was asked specifically about the Republic of China, he said, as well as Rhodesia and other issues. Canada gave full assurances that the Republic of China would be admitted. If there had been any doubt of this, Lord Killanin declared, the Games would not have gone to Montreal in preference to Moscow or Los Angeles. In the Canadian Parliament, External Affairs Minister Allan MacEachen was jeered by Conservatives, who shouted "Utter fraud!" when he said that Canada had rejected Peiping demands to bar Taiwan athletes and was acting entirely on its own in forbidding the team to compete as the Republic of China.
Athletes of the Republic of China left Taipei en route to Montreal July 8, joining others who had been training in the United States. Governments as well as National Olympic Committees were speaking out for the Republic of China. Chile threatened to withdraw from the Games. Others denouncing Canada included Venezuela, Colombia, Puerto Rico and Nicaragua. Lord Killanin said that the issue was not "China but the principles of the Olympic Games. We do not deal with governments, only with athletes and bodies representing athletes." Canadian former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker said the Trudeau government's position was "giving Canada a black eye everywhere in the world." President Ford expressed hope that the dispute would be settled so that the Republic of China could participate in the Games.
Members of the ROC team waited in Boston, Dallas, Detroit and Los Angeles for resolution of the dispute. Led by Henry Hsu, four officials of the ROC National Olympic Committee went to Montreal to see what could be done. The spokesmen included C.K. Yang, an Olympic silver medal winner, and Chi Cheng, once the world's fastest woman in the sprints and the holder of a bronze medal. Miss Chi wanted to know how anyone could be denied the use of his name. "I am Chi Cheng," she said. "Why should I call myself anything else? " Yang said Canada had demeaned his country and its athletes. "What if the United States was told it would have to compete under another name?" he asked. "If they didn't want us here, why did they have to wait until the last minute, after our team had spent months in preparations and had made the long trip across the Pacific?"
On July 11, the International Olympic Committee excoriated Canada but decided to let the Games go on because "athletes from over one hundred countries" had been preparing for the competition and the "City of Montreal, the Canadian Olympic Association and the Organizing Committee have fulfilled their commitments." The IOC executive committee "unanimously and strongly" protested the decision of Canada to refuse the admission of a team duly recognized by the IOC and properly invited. "As recently as June 22, 1976," the statement said, "Olympic identity cards, as issued to athletes and officials of this team, were confirmed as meeting all requirements for acceptance as travel documents by the Canadian government."
People from all walks of life turned out to welcome home an Olympic team that couldn't compete. (File photo)
Lord Killanin said the IOC decision marked "an extremely unfortunate day in Olympic history." He also expressed regret that athletes of the Republic of China could not compete. President Gerald Ford of the United States called for a reversal of the ruling. Ford was quoted as saying that all athletes should be allowed to compete without regard to politics. Senator Barry Goldwater called for U.S. withdrawal from the Games unless Canada reversed its position. The Canadians, he said, were trying to curry favor with the Chinese Communists. Philip O. Krumm, president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said the Americans were seriously considering withdrawal.
On July 16, Canada said that the Republic of China could fly its flag and play its anthem but would have to compete as "Taiwan." The IOC then voted, 58 to 2, to change the name of the ROC team to "Taiwan." Canada had refused even to allow the team from Taiwan to compete as "Taiwan, ROC-OC." The Republic of China rejected the name change and announced withdrawal from the Olympic Games.
Lawrence S. Ting, vice president of the ROC Olympic Committee, declared: "We consider this change to be improper under the IOC rules preventing political discrimination and interference. Since our counterproposal to the IOC to use the name Taiwan-ROC was not accepted by the Canadian government, we deeply regret that we have no alternative but not to participate in the Games. We wish to express our deep appreciation to those who have steadfastly supported us and share in our disappointment. We remain faithful to the Olympic movement and urge our friends to continue the fight for justice and preservation of Olympic principles." A statement by Niu Ping-yih, secretary general of the Chinese Olympic Committee, said that the Canadian government had betrayed its commitment to the IOC, violated the Olympic Charter and brought politics into sports.
At home, the government, civic organizations and rank and file citizens rallied to support of the team. More than 2,000 well-wishers gathered at the Taipei International Airport to welcome the returning athletes. Among them were a number of Canadians waving flags of the Republic of China. Even before its return, the ROC Olympic team had been invited by the United States to participate in a post-Olympic track and field meet.
World public opinion was solidly arrayed in favor of the Republic of China and against Canada. Many members of the U.S. Congress expressed themselves in speeches on the Senate and House floors. Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico described the Canadian decision as "a flagrant violation of the sanctity of international agreement, national pride and human dignity." He said he hoped that the United States would "take a lesson" from the Republic of China "in preserving our national identity with pride and dignity." Senator Goldwater of Arizona said the United States should not have participated. "I frankly have been ashamed of the way the U.S. Committee reacted toward the unwarranted and uncalled for demands of Canada relative to Taiwan," he said. Representative William Broomfield of Michigan said Canada had "taken the lead in further debasing the Olympic ideal."
Press comment was sharply critical of Canada, even in that country.
The New York Times said: "The political stubbornness that threatened to abort today's opening of the 21st Olympiad was cruel and unfair to the athletes of 130 nations, not to mention the country that was victimized. Planners of forth-coming international sporting or other events who may be considering a Canadian site are now on notice; the government of Prime Minister Trudeau is perfectly capable of sounding an inhospitable sour note for its own political reasons just when it is too late to change conveniently to another location." In an earlier editorial the paper had said that the Olympics were in danger of being destroyed and suggested that U.S. participation should be reconsidered.
The New York Daily News said that the IOC had surrendered to "international blackmail." The Wall Street Journal said Canada had bowed to "undisguised pressure from mainland China." "It is sad," the paper said, "to contrast this IOC decision with the refusal of sturdier folk on the 1936 committee to knuckle under to Hitler when he attempted to challenge the Olympic Charter during the Berlin Games."
The Washington Post said an "ugly precedent" had been set, and added: "Canadians do a good deal of complaining, by no means all of it justified, about the hard lot of small countries in a world dominated by big ones. But now their government has gone out of its way to bully a still smaller country, and to do it in unapologetic violation of the agreed rules of the International Olympic Committee. At the same time, Canada has humiliated the IOC by forcing it to concede that it cannot enforce its own standards of fair play." The Post subsequently ridiculed Trudeau's self-appointment as "a sort of international grand censor." If Trudeau had kept going down the alphabetical list, the paper said, "he would have perceived that the East German regime calls itself the German Democratic Republic. Not even Mr. Trudeau can think that the East Germans are running a democratic republic. It is easy to see what would have happened. The grand censor might have let the East Germans use their flag and anthem, as a compromise. But the censor's rigorous and highly moral standards of truth in labeling would naturally have forbidden them to use the name of their country." As for the United States, the Post continued, the Cubans and Brazilians, not to mention the Canadians, would have objected that the-y too were Americans. Trudeau would have been compelled to "require all U.S. athletes to sign affidavits swearing that they would not refer to themselves, while on Canadian soil, as Americans. "
The Trudeau government of Canada sold out the principles and spirit of the Olympic movement in return for ingratiating itself with Red China and selling its wheat. (File photo)
Time said Canada "massively miscalculated" the furious outcry touched off by its "stupid" decision to bar the Republic of China. Many Canadians were unhappy "over their government's ham-fisted attempt to tamper with the world's premier sports event," the magazine said. The New York Times suggested that flags, anthems and other nationalistic labels be withdrawn from future Olympics. This idea was echoed by some former Olympic athletes.
Columnists also expressed their views. Red Smith, the world's best known sports editor, said "Gutless is the word for the International Olympic Committee." The Republic of China's stand, he maintained, was a matter of national pride. "Starting with the 1952 Games," he said, "mainland China has been seeking admission to the Olympic family but only on condition that the 'other' China be kicked out. Once the mainland sent a single athlete to the Games. In 1956 the other faction competed as Taiwan and in 1960 as Formosa, but that was under protest. Since then the IOC has accepted the Republic of China and the mainland has remained aloof. Nobody has denied, however, that (Peiping) put pressure on Canada to go back on its word this year.
"Neither does anybody who has been consulted doubt that Lord Killanin and the IOC could have brought Trudeau into line a month ago. If they had said, 'Okay, the Games are canceled,' when he took his position on Taiwan, he couldn't possibly have continued his bluff. He and Montreal's Mayor Drapeau are politicians. The Games represent an investment of $1.5 billion by the Canadian people (pronounced 'voters'). If the party were called off, those television millions would have to be returned; the stench would never blow away.
"Instead, it was Killanin who caved in. He came to Canada seeking a face-saving compromise. When Trudeau refused to compromise, he surrendered. 'We have lost the battle,' he said. Battle? Hell, he never put his hands up."
William F. Buckley Jr. had this to say: "Concerning Mr. Trudeau's holy war against the Republic of China, a few observations:
"The romancing of Red China has been an avocation of Mr. Trudeau for a good many years and threatens, now, to become something of an obsession. The commonly accepted explanation for Mr. Trudeau's taking on the job of deciding what an Olympic team may call itself, what flags it may display, and what songs it may sing, is that he is frightened at the prospect of displeasing the Red Chinese lest, in reprisal, they stop eating Canadian wheat.
"The Chinese do set great store on pride, but the choice before the Chinese (Communists) isn't shall they stop eating Canadian wheat, but rather shall they stop eating? The Communist Chinese do not trade with Canada out of any sentimental attachment to Canada's policies. They trade because they need Canadian wheat, even as the Soviet Union needs American wheat. If it is correct that Trudeau succumbed to diplomatic intimidation on this point, then he is more naive than a prime minister ought to be.
"If - as I suspect - Mr. Trudeau was not so much yielding to mainland Chinese pressure as indulging an appetite for anti-anti-Communist waspishness, it pays to examine seriously the claims he puts forward. He announced that since Canada recognizes the government of mainland China, it cannot recognize another government laying claim to sovereignty over mainland China, which is correct.
"It is not correct that it follows that an Olympic team representing the competing government should not be allowed to play, exhibiting its own plumage. In fact, Mr. Trudeau's intervention is a clear violation of the rules of the International Olympic Committee, which reserves the right to exclude a particular team.
"The passion of Mr. Trudeau for diplomatic and juridical punctilio calls into question his sensitivity to logical consistency and philosophical decorum. Why should it offend him that a Taiwanese athlete should run around the stadium holding up a flag adopted by China after the Revolution of Sun Yat-sen inasmuch as that flag is no longer used in mainland China, having given way to the Chinese mutation?
"If Mr. Trudeau's point is that Taiwan's passion to govern mainland China isn't an act of irredentism, but an impulse to imperialism, why does he permit the Soviet Union?
"Should France be permitted to play? Should Canada's flag be hoisted in the name of those Quebecois who insist on independence? Will Mr. Trudeau, while he is at it, settle for us the hundred-year dispute between Chile and Peru on the matter of their proper frontiers?
"Or is it easier to conclude that Mr. Trudeau doesn't care about consistency, rules, agreements, but enjoys his role as bully in behalf of avantegarde Communist designs? The enslavement of Taiwan by the mainland should occupy a place in the priority of international concerns somewhere in the area of the liberation of Quebec."
Commentaries in the Republic of China warned that the Soviet Union might seize upon the Canadian precedent as an excuse to prevent any state considered unacceptable from competing in the Moscow Olympics in 1980. This was borne out in the complete silence of the U.S.S.R., which endorsed the banning of Rhodesia in 1972 and which was the prime mover in efforts to keep Radio Free Europe out of Montreal, about the Canadian barring of the Republic of China. Moscow has pledged itself to abide by the international Olympic rules, but these may now be defined as being whatever the host country decrees. Not until one of their athletes sought asylum in Canada did the Russians explode into wrath and threaten to withdraw from Montreal if he was not returned.
The 21st Olympiad will go down in history as the most controversial ever held. Aside from the Republic of China's withdrawal, 28 countries of Africa plus Guyana and Iraq boycotted the Games because New Zealand had a rugby team on tour in South Africa. Taipei editorial writers warned that the politicizing of sports might destroy the Games or lead to their breakdown into several competitions based on politics and ideologies.
The Chinese National Olympic Committee was still hopeful that the true sportsmen of the Olympic movement would be able to rekindle the spirit of athletic competition devoid of politics. The Republic of China kept its membership in most of the separate international sports federations. Peiping again made bids for membership but was rejected because of its insistence that the Republic of China be expelled.
Pierre Trudeau made himself the cat's-paw of the Chinese Communists in excluding the athletes of free China. That was hard on the 42team members who had hoped to compete. At the same time, it served to alert the free world to the extent of Peiping's endeavors to isolate Taiwan and the lengths to which the Chinese Communists will go in furthering that campaign. Some Americans who had been expressing the hope that the United States might have extensive relations with the Republic of China after recognition of Peiping began to see that proposition in a new light.
The Peiping-Trudeau arrangement was the first widely publicized step in an isolation movement that has been under way for several years. People and government of the Republic of China urged the free countries of the world to take warning. The preservation of a free and democratic China is infinitely more important than participation in the Olympic Games.