‘The Olympics should not be about politics but about sports and athletes; the true mission of the Olympics is to promote peace,’ Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó wrote in a post on Facebook.
Péter Szijjártó is currently in Japan for several meetings on the fringes of the 2023 World Aquatics Championships. Minister Szijjártó also attended some races in Fukuoka at the games, including the quarterfinals between the water polo teams of Hungary and the United States on Tuesday, which Hungary won 13–12. The minister wished good luck to the players before the game started.
Commenting on his discussion with Ng Ser Miang, the first Vice President of the International Olympic Committee, the minister said they agreed ‘about how wonderful it would be if sports could be a means of peace and if sports and geopolitics could be sharply separated from each other.’
He added that a fully participated Olympics could be of great assistance in peacefully resolving armed conflicts, including the ongoing war in Ukraine, not to mention that the losers of an Olympic boycott would be the athletes who train and prepare tirelessly throughout their entire lives, and have no say in political decisions.
‘The Olympics should be about sports and athletes, focusing on its true mission of promoting peace,’ Szijjártó emphasised.
In his post, the minister recalled that Hungarians are particularly sensitive to this issue since
more than 100 Hungarian athletes had their chance of participating in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics taken away from them
due to the boycott forced on the Communist bloc by the Soviet Union. Many of them never had another opportunity to participate in Olympic games.
‘We, Hungarians, not only talk about the peace-promoting power of sports but also take action to support it. As evidence of this, we provided the opportunity for the Ukrainian women’s handball team to play their World Championship qualifier and the Belarusian football team to play their European Championship qualifier in Hungary. Furthermore, we are still ready to host any sports events that cannot be held in their original locations due to the war,’ Szijjártó concluded.
The 2024 Summer Olympics will be the 33rd modern Olympic Games; however, if we exclude the Games that were cancelled due to the world wars, it will be only the 30th edition. The bidding process for the hosting rights began in 2015. In 2017, Los Angeles and Paris reached an agreement, with Los Angeles hosting the 2028 Olympics and Paris hosting the 2024 Olympics. The winner of the multi-stage bid was decided and officially announced by the International Olympic Committee at the congress held in Lima, Peru, on 13 September 2017.
In 2024, for the first time in Olympic history, breakdancing competitions will be held. Although Paris officially hosts the Olympics, the surfing competitions will take place in Tahiti, which French territory. This will be the last Olympics organised under the presidency of Thomas Bach.
In Fukuoka Minister Szijjártó also attended the quarterfinals between the water polo teams of Hungary and the United States on Tuesday, which Hungary won 13–12, and congratulated the Hungarian players on their victory.
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Source: Hungarian Conservative/MTI
