I love sports and am happy to play and watch a wide variety. The Olympics, revived in 1894 by French pedagogue Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin, have always been that little bit special. His idea – breathtakingly ambitious in its simplicity – was to change the face of the world by having its youth compete in sports rather than fight in war. The 100-day countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics has begun; the Olympic torch relay – conceived by Carl Diem as a means to promote Nazi ideology across Europe prior to the 1936 Berlin games – arrives in the HKSAR this month at the end of a global relay.

I’m sure Beijing viewed and still views the Olympics as a tool to showcase the new modern China to the world – and fair play to them, because regardless of the number of words written decrying the mixing of sports and politics, the two are inexorably intertwined – especially today with the amount of global media coverage sports receive. Taking up the Olympic flame has put Beijing and modern China centre stage for the world’s media and while showcasing all that’s good, it also exposes where Beijing has lost the plot.

Which it surely has with the recent draconian and inane changes to its visa and cross-border travel regulations. Multiple entry visas are being cancelled at the Lowu border-crossing point and people are being turned away if they cannot show a hotel booking and a return ticket. I am not quite sure how you show a return ticket when walking across the border having got off the MTR–I initially wrote KCR but the times they are a changin’–will they check if your Octopus card has enough credit on it for a single journey. While I like to pop up to Shenzhen a couple of times a month for some shopping and to catch up with friends, but with dinner starting at a $1000+ for the visa alone, it’s not a trip I will make as often now.

But the inconvenience I face is nothing compared to those who have businesses, factories or suppliers on the mainland and need to traverse the border regularly. Yes, we will all adapt to the new rules, but if, as Beijing constantly reminds us, we are ‘One Country’ then why are we being treated as if we are not?
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