Originally Posted by The_Jazz

I don't necessarily think that you're wrong, but I do know for a fact that it's not nearly that simple. When the expected favorite in the marathon - Haile Gebressalsie of Ethopia - declines an invitation because of health concerns with the heat and smog, I think that you need to stop and think about how polluted it actually is.

While these are true, they're both small red herrings. Mexico City is polluted, but in 1968, the level of pollution wasn't nearly to the level that it is now. Going into those Games, there were air quality concerns, but they were much more along the lines of "holy shit, we're up high! Is there enough oxygen?" than about pollution.

Also, LA was smart enough to hold their last Games as close to the water as possible. Anyone who's spent time there knows that the closer you get to the water on most days the better the quality. That said, there were definitely health concerns about the pollution going into the '84 Games, the same as there are now. Having visited both cities in the past 8 years, I can tell you that Beijing most definitely has the worse air quality.

I'll just say that no country that's ever hosted the Games - Summer or Winter - is unassailable on the human rights question. That said, I firmly believe that the Games are about sport, not politics, and that politics should be left at home for the 2 weeks of the Games. They are a measure of human effort and the pinnacles of human physical accomplishment.