The physical fitness of the population reflects the development level of a society or country, while sports events test the physical fitness of the people of a country.

Athletes challenge the limits of physical fitness and endurance, and explore new and better ways to make greater achievements. Sports competitions also prompt countries to develop concepts, technologies, and scientific methods of engaging in sports, because advanced concepts, technologies and scientific methods can help athletes improve their performance.

Therefore, participating in sports events is always more important than winning.

Athletes competing against each other make sports competitions entertaining and exciting; at the same time, they generate empathy, deepen mutual understanding, and build close friendships.

Athletes can understand, appreciate and admire each other, and forge personal friendships. Also, with the help of modern media, very often, the top sports stars influence people beyond national borders.

The fundamental rationale for organizing global sports events is that if people from all over the world can compete fully on the sports ground, that is, participate in sports events, the chances of confrontation and conflicts on the battlefield will be dramatically reduced. The benefits of sports events therefore go far beyond sports per se.

With this underlying assumption, for decades, international sports events, represented by the Olympic Games, have become the best window for superpowers to showcase their economic and social development level and comprehensive strength. No wonder sports events are an indispensable part of cultural exchanges between countries, and have been so since ancient times.

But in today's world, political factors have been increasingly influencing international and regional sports events.

The Olympic Games originated in Europe, the revival of modern Olympic Games also began in Europe, so international sports events have been shaped by the West. And with the changes in the international situation and the intensification of geopolitical games, politics and ideology have become more pervasive aspects of international sports events. Even the Olympic Games have become subject to sanctions, with the United States orchestrating sports sanctions to punish and smear other countries.

The US and some of its allies boycotted the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics, which led to the Soviet Union boycotting the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.

After the end of the Cold War, some people believed that such things would not happen again. But, with the comprehensive escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, the relationship between Russia on the one hand and the US, the European Union, and their allies on the other has deteriorated.

In the field of sports, Russia has been subject to comprehensive sanctions starting from the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. Athletes have been banned from representing Russia at four consecutive Olympic Games: the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018, the Tokyo Summer Olympics in 2021, the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, and the Paris Summer Olympics in 2024.

In order to break the isolation efforts of the US-led West in the field of sports, Russia has been actively hosting various sports events, and it will host the World Friendship Games from Sept 15 to 29. All athletes across the world will be invited to participate. But the International Olympic Committee has called for athletes to boycott the Russia World Friendship Games. It can be expected that the political game between Russia and the US-led West in the field of sports will continue.

Despite political factors increasingly influencing international and regional sports competitions — and notwithstanding the clamor for de-globalization, decoupling and de-risking in the West — China is determined to maintain an open policy toward all countries.

Demonstrating to the world that it will continue to deepen reform and further open up its economy, China has held a number of international sports events including the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games and the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, as well as several Asian Games and other sports events.

Only when international organizations such as the IOC adhere to the principle of "sports neutrality" and major powers consciously reduce their political interference in sports and cultural exchanges can sports events such as the Olympic Games effectively promote deep-level exchanges and mutual learning between the sports cultures of various countries, enhance the friendly and healthy development of relations between countries, and contribute to neighborly friendship among countries.

On the basis of equality and unity, international sports events should return to the original goal of the founder of the modern Olympic Games that sports should promote mutual understanding, friendship, solidarity and fair competition.

The Olympic Games are grand sporting events that provide a platform for athletes from all over the world to not only be "faster, higher, stronger", but also demonstrate the kinship embodied in the Olympic Spirit that brings athletes from around the world to compete together.

It is sincerely hoped that international sports events, represented by the Olympic Games, can continue to play their basic function of building understanding and forging friendships by connecting people of all countries, and be a means toward pursuing world peace, rather than being exploited by some countries to sow divisions and expand the gap between countries, let alone become a tool for some members of the international community to suppress other members.

Unpoliticized sports exchanges can promote mutual understanding among all countries and contribute to good-neighborly and friendly relations, and establish people-to-people communication in the 21st century.

The author is deputy secretary-general of the Center for One Belt One Road of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

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