The opening ceremonies of the 2022 Olympics will take place this Friday. President Xi Jinping is celebrating the event by inviting fellow dictator Vladimir Putin to the event:

Mr. Xi, who once put his personal prestige on the line in support of Beijing’s bid, has more recently hailed the Games as a showcase for “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” Blending sports and power politics, he will host President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Friday, the day of the opening ceremony, as the crisis over Ukraine continues.

But the opening ceremony may be less of a moment to celebrate and more of an embarrassment. The Washington Post‘s Josh Rogin reports that an unknown number of Olympic athletes are planning to boycott the opening ceremonies as a way to protest human rights abuses in China.

Earlier this month, China threatened athletes who take political stances during the games with potential jail time. “Behaviour or speeches that are against the Olympic spirit, and especially against Chinese laws and regulations are also subjected to certain punishment,” a member of Beijing’s organizing committee warned. Human Rights Watch actually warned athletes not to risk speaking up in China because the threat to their freedom was too great. But some athletes are seeing refusal to participate in the opening and closing ceremonies as a way to make a point without actually saying anything that could trigger repercussions.

For several months, U.S.-based activists have been meeting with Olympic athletes from several Western countries to urge them to speak out on the Chinese government’s mass atrocities and severe repression of Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers and other groups inside China. The athletes, facing the threat of punishment from the Chinese government if they talk about human rights, have almost all avoided addressing the subject in public.

The athletes have also come under pressure from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its sponsors to avoid controversy. But if they don’t feel safe speaking out, the activists told them, skipping the Opening and Closing Ceremonies would at least deny the Chinese government the ability to use those ceremonies to legitimize its abuses and whitewash its crimes. Activists told me that athletes from at least two Western teams confirmed they will not be attending the Opening Ceremonies as their personal form of protest…

The exact number of athletes planning to boycott the Opening Ceremonies is unknown. Activists told me several athletes expressed fear of being arrested by Chinese authorities or being punished by their home nation’s Olympics organization if they protested at all. Some athletes told the activists they would explain why they skipped the Opening Ceremonies only after the games ended, remaining silent while in China to avoid punishment…

After Taiwan’s delegation said last week they wouldn’t attend either event, the IOC sent Taiwan’s Olympic committee “several notices … requiring all delegations to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to cooperate in sending personnel to attend the opening and closing ceremonies.”

The IOC has consistently been acting as China’s lapdog so it’s no surprise they are making demands of athletes on China’s behalf. Meanwhile, China is apparently preparing the groundwork to undermine any possible embarrassment by having state media claim the US is paying athletes to disrupt the games:

China Daily newspaper, citing “sources familiar with the matter”, said there was a plot by Washington to persuade athletes to “play passively” or refuse to take part in competitions and “express discontent toward China”.

“The sources stressed that Washington’s plan is a new example demonstrating attempts by some anti-China forces in the United States to politicize sports and maliciously disrupt and spoil the Beijing Winter Olympic Games,” the article said.

This is chapter one out of the dictator’s playbook, i.e. always claim problems are the result of foreign agitators. But it’s not just the threat of arrest that western athletes have to worry about. There is also real concern about them being spied on by the CCP. China has set up a phone app which is allegedly intended to monitor athlete’s health, but researchers in Canada say it appears to be sharing phone data with a Chinese site. The FBI has now warned American athletes to use burner phones during their stay in Beijing.

The FBI is urging Olympic athletes to leave their personal cell phones at home and instead take burner phones to the Beijing Winter Olympics this month, citing the potential for “malicious cyber activities.”

“The FBI urges all athletes to keep their personal cell phones at home and use a temporary phone while at the games. The National Olympic Committees in some Western countries are also advising their athletes to leave personal devices at home or use temporary phones due to cybersecurity concerns at the Games,” the agency said in a notice.

Using a burner phone might prevent China from downloading your personal contacts, photos and videos but doesn’t rule out the possibility of China using the burner phone as a spying device, i.e. turning on the camera or microphone to monitor athletes.

It will be interesting to see how many athletes decide to poke their thumb in Xi Jinping’s eye Friday. The ceremony will take place at 7 am Eastern time. I wonder how the CCP will attempt to tap-dance any missing athletes to make it appear that all is well?