Boycotting Beijing

sir – Dominic Raab (Letters, October 7) is imprudent, not to say naive, to propose a British boycott of Beijing’s Winter Olympic Games of 2022.

First, the Government holds no jurisdiction over an independent British Olympic Association (witness the Moscow boycott of 1980).

Secondly, Britain’s absence would have zero impact on internal Chinese policy, since only diplomatic or economic reprisal carries force.

Thirdly, the Foreign Secretary has embarrassed the Princess Royal, president of the British Olympic Association and an International Olympic Committee, who should have been consulted.

David Miller

Olympic historian Weybourne, Norfolk

sir – Danielle Sheridan (“Raab says UK could boycott China Winter Olympics”, October 7) states that the UK has never boycotted an Olympic Games.

As a member of the 1980 British Olympic team prevented from going to Moscow by my federation’s decision to toe the government line, I beg to differ.

The British press lauded British sportsmen and women who did well in Moscow while their main opponents watched on television in America. British athletes knew privately that later victories counted for much more.

A friend in the 1980 British team would later take his own life as a consequence of the way things went after failing to attend “his Olympics”. A friend in the American team, favourite for a gold medal, suffered a nervous breakdown within days of the boycott.

Every athlete I knew at the time supported the people of Afghanistan against the Soviet invaders; a national boycott was absolutely correct – not the muddle that transpired.

Andrew Hurst

Lymington, Hampshire