The Anti Olympic Committee was started up in December 1997 as the Helsinki city council was about to approve applying for the 2006 Winter Olympics together with Lahti, Finland, and Lillehammer, Norway. We wanted to spark up a public debate about this application and question its necessity.

In our opinion, a thorough debate on the darker sides of modern sports, on the nature of the International Olympic Committee, on the environmental consequences of the Games and, in general, on the necessity of using public funds to finance a business venture such as the Olympics should have been carried out before leaving the application for the Games. As the City council went ahead with its original plans and approved the application, this discussion needs to be carried out now.

It is necessary to differentiate between the different forms of sport and their respective goals. Modern-day professional sport has become a part of the entertainment industry whereas amateur, handicapped and youth sports exist on a completely different basis. It is these latter types of sport which are important to the well-being of the people and thus deserve our full support.
 
The Olympics are an official institution of international sports. The image it projects of sport is reflected in the amateur sports the world over. We are therefore extremely worried about the current state of the Olympic movement. The old ideals of a fair competition, in which winning is not the main point, and of a peaceful, friendly meeting of the world’s youth have been completely forgotten. Commerciality, corruption and doping are an every-day part of the Games in which money sets the rules.

We do not support Games of this kind. We hope that Helsinki will not organise the Olympics on the conditions set by the IOC. We believe that the marketing of the Helsinki Games as Games of "equality and sustainability" is nothing more than a pr-gag which has nothing to do with reality. There are no visible signs that serious efforts are being made to change the course of the Olympic movement.

We hope that an open debate will convince the Finnish public to oppose the Games. According to experience, Games are seldomly allotted to a country which has a strong opposition against the Games. According to several opinion polls which were compiled in 1997-98, already 30% of the Finns are opposed to the Helsinki Olympics.
 

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Home Page:     http://www.helsinki.fi/~vholmber/antiolympia