Wednesday May 16, 2001 Rupert Murdoch thinks it is a good idea. So does Sebastian Coe. And even Ken Livingstone may be secretly pleased, if it means French hopes are dashed and the way is cleared for London in 2012. The point at issue is whether or not to award the 2008 summer Olympics to Beijing. China's claims advanced yesterday when the International Olympic Committee praised its "high quality bid". While also giving top marks to Toronto and Paris, the IOC evaluators said "a Beijing Games would leave a unique legacy to China and to sport". Given its narrow and some would say suspect failure to secure the 2000 Games (which went to Sydney), and given the Olympic movement's self-appointed mission to forge new bonds and bridge old divides, Beijing is likely to be the favourite when the IOC finally votes on a venue in July. The reason why Beijing has not in fact already sown it up on behalf of China's 1.2bn people is, in the view of its [party's name omitted] rulers, the continuing, wrong-headed confusion of politics with sport. After all, Beijing's residents are raring to go, if only because of 1.2bn's worth of urban and environmental improvements. The government's commitment is total, even to the extent of spraying the grass green in Tiananmen Square. Winning the Olympics has become a matter of national pride, a symbolic test of China's acceptance as a leading player on the world stage. A second rebuff would be blamed on a western political conspiracy and fiercely resented. But sportspeople and sporting bodies (and media moguls), however lofty their ideals, cannot properly ignore the ugly side of modern Chinese society. China's intolerance of dissent and of free religious observance, its repression in Tibet and its persecution of [groups] such as the Falun Gong, its systemic judicial abuses and its media censorship are all grounds, in the absence of startling, unforeseen changes, for denying it this prestigious accolade. That's not "politics"; that's life.