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# Olympic lessons: no medals without  opposition
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/olympic-lessons-no-medals-without-opposition/
- Published: 2008-08-22T17:08:35.000Z
- Updated: 2019-02-14T22:41:29.000Z
- Author: openDemocracy Supporters
- Tags: #en, #Migrated, #Import 2026-04-09 18:41

["The leaders fail to understand](https://www.opendemocracy.net/article/the-olympics-has-china-proved-ready) that the fakery casts genuine achievements into doubt, and their clumsy cover-ups bring only greater dishonour," says Li Datong of the control-obsession that Chinese leadership has demonstrated during the Olympics. But when will they regain the maturity to understand that it is a strength, not a weakness, to allow genuine criticism and opposition?

As we see also [in Paul Rogers' comments about Russia, and Anthony Barnett's follow-up comments on Iran:](https://www.opendemocracy.net/article/russia-and-iran-rise-of-the-rest-crisis-of-the-west) a show of strength is a proof of vulnerability. Li Datong reminds us that this wisdom was part of the pre-Tiananmen awareness of the leadership: ["The late politicians Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang once openly said "we must get used to governing ](https://www.opendemocracy.net/article/the-olympics-has-china-proved-ready)while the public oppose and demonstrate", and "we must learn to govern despite small or medium-scale disorder." Unfortunately this vision and psychological readiness was brought to an end by the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989 and has not yet returned. "