08.08.08, or when sports become political

Yesterday marked the 8 year anniversary of the start of the Russian - Georgian war of 2008, and it played out again in an unexpected arena: the Olympics.

To give some background on the subject, it is necessary to understand the history of Russia and Georgia. Georgia was a part of the Soviet Union, but declared independence in 1991 as the USSR was collapsing. The tensions in S Ossetia and Abkhazia were present then in conflicts between Russian-backed separatists and Georgia. In these regions, ethnic Georgians and Ossetian/Abkhazian people both lived, and this resulted in ethnic tensions as well.

Following Putin's election, and a pro-West government election in Georgia, relations between the two countries further deteriorated, reaching crisis by 2008. In August 2008, Ossetian separatists began shelling Georgian villages, and  on August 7, Georgian forces entered Ossetia to respond. Russia took this as an act of aggression, and launched an invasion of Georgia proper on August 8. Georgian towns and cities were occupied, and bombs dropped, killing many civilians. This is a famous picture I have seen many times here in Georgia of a woman sitting in the rubble of her bombed apartment in Gori:

In Ossetia, Georgian and Ossetian people began fighting, and there were incidence of alleged ethnic cleansing against Georgians. They were forced to flee the violence into Georgia. 192,000 people were displaced from their homes, and around 224 civilians were killed in Georgia, and abut 162 in South Ossetia. Russia finally fully withdrew troops, and formally recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia, meaning that Georgia lost these regions and many refugees who had fled their homes now cannot return.

What was crazy was that on the very anniversary of this war, Russia and Georgia faced off in the Olympics. Politics are often played out in sports, and this continued yesterday. On the 8th anniversary of the war, Georgian and Russian judo Olympians faced off in Rio. The end result was a victory for the Georgian athlete, Lasha, who is from Gori which was bombed and occupied by Russian troops in 2008. His gestures after the win, pointing at the Georgian flag on his uniform, then down at his opponent were clearly political. It was a powerful reminder of the tensions that still exist and the wounds that still have not been healed.

I have hopes that one day, this conflict will be resolved, and the thousands of internally displaced people who fled from their homes will be able to return.