How Rugby, Ping-Pong and Other Sports Have Mended Political Rifts體育彌合政治裂痕

霍莉·閆

Never mind high-pressure peace talks that fail amid the looming threat of warfare. Try wrestling or ping-pong diplomacy instead. 戰爭威脅步步逼近，多重壓力下的和平談判以失敗告終——沒關系，不妨試試“摔跤外交”或“乒乓外交”吧！

In January 2018， North Korean and South Korean officials sat down for high-level talks to discuss the North’s participation in the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in South Korea. The historic talks were seen as a clear sign of thawing tensions between the two nations. One month later， North and South Korean athletes paraded together at the opening ceremony of Pyeongchang Winter Games. It is the first time in post-war Olympic history that a country has hosted a team from a nation with which it is officially at war. Analysts were cautiously optimistic about whether it would lead to better political relations.

Here are several examples of sports diplomacy success stories：

Ping-pong diplomacy

In the 1970s， the Cold War was even icier than the Winter Olympics. But a Chinese ping-pong player’s chance meeting with an American player on a bus got the ball rolling1 for formal Chinese-US diplomatic ties.

It started at a 1971 tournament in Japan. American teenager Glenn Cowan missed his team’s bus and hopped on the Chinese team’s bus instead.

After much hesitation， Chinese player Zhuang struck up a conversation through a translator—a brave act， given the political constraints of the time.

“We were all tense，” Zhuang told CNN in 2008. “Our team had been advised not to speak to Americans， not to shake their hands， and not to exchange gifts with them.

“I looked at him， thinking， ‘he is not the one who makes national policies， he is just an athlete， an ordinary American.’”

Zhuang gave the long-haired American a silk brocade2 as a gift. The next day， Cowan gave him a T-shirt with a peace sign and the words “LET IT BE3.”

Photos of their encounter were widely publicized. And before long， Chairman Mao Zedong invited the US team to visit and play friendly matches in China.

The next year， US President Richard Nixon visited China—ultimately leading to the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries in 1979.

Pin-down diplomacy

Similar to ping-pong diplomacy， “pin-down diplomacy” between US and Iranian wrestlers “has been instrumental in changing perceptions about Iranian and American society， and building bridges between sports communities and ordinary citizens，” the think-tank Atlantic Council said.

But wrestlers had to grapple with political upheaval in 2017， after the Trump administration announced a travel ban against people from seven Muslim-majority countries—including Iran.

Iran， in retaliation， denied visas for the American wrestlers planning to compete in the freestyle wrestling World Cup in Iran.

But after US courts halted the ban， the visas were finally granted.

“[The Iranian] Wrestling Federation lobbied on our behalf， and I think their government as well looked at it as an opportunity to show their graciousness and their respect for the sport of wrestling，” US head coach Bill Zadick said.

“A World Cup without the Americans would not have been a real World Cup，” said Rasoul Khadem， head of the Iran Wrestling Federation.

The respect between the US and Iranian wrestlers was obvious.

“I have been wrestling overseas for three years now， and every Iranian I have ever come in contact with has been extremely respectful， extremely polite，” US Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder said during a training session.

“（While） there’s a little bit of turmoil politically， you definitely don’t see that within the sport. We respect each other as competitors and as people，” Snyder said.

Rugby diplomacy

In 1994， black South Africans—reeling from4 decades of apartheid—largely hated rugby. It was a sport played by white men—the race of their longtime oppressors.

So newly elected President Nelson Mandela decided to employ rugby star Francois Pienaar to help mend deep racial divides.

John Carlin， author of “Playing the Enemy，” said Mandela used the Rugby World Cup final to win over parts of the population who had largely supported his 27-year imprisonment—and who had threatened to push South Africa into a civil war under the country’s first black leader.

Mandela called Pienaar for a meeting before the 1995 World Cup in South Africa.

“I can’t tell you how nervous I was，” Pienaar said. “I didn’t know what he was going to ask me. I wondered： ‘Why does he want to see me？ What am I going to say？’”

At the World Cup final， Pienaar delivered an eloquent tribute to Mandela.

And Mandela walked onto the stadium field to shake the hands of players， wearing the green cap and uniform of the South African national team. Pienaar’s number was on his jersey.

When the crowd first saw Mandela， they seemed “to go dead still，” Carlin said. Then they started chanting something unexpected： “Nelson！ Nelson！”

If this plotline sounds like it would make a great Hollywood movie， it did. Clint Eastwood directed the 2009 movie “Invictus，” starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar.

Beyond hard power

The term “Hockey diplomacy” reflects the series of 8 ice hockey matches between Canada and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in year 1972， during the Cold War. Again， relations between two states with different political regimes were improved. Other notable examples include Greece-Turkey’s basketball diplomacy， India-Pakistan’s cricket diplomacy and the Israel-Palestine football team for peace5.

The Olympic flame is part of the symbol of the Olympic Truce， the ancient Greek tradition of a temporary peace between warring states competing at the Games.

How appropriate.

.

2018年1月，朝鮮和韓國的政府官員展開高層會談，討論朝鮮參加即將開幕的韓國平昌冬季奧林匹克運動會的相關事宜。外界把這次歷史性的會談看作是兩國緊張局勢緩和的明顯標志。一個月后的平昌冬奧會開幕式上，朝韓體育代表團共同入場。一個國家接待對戰國家的體育團隊，這在二戰后的奧林匹克史上還屬首次。至于兩國的政治關系是否從此得到改善，分析家們持謹慎樂觀態度。

下面我們就來看看幾個體育外交的成功先例：

乒乓外交

20世紀70年代，“冷戰”格局下的國際政治氛圍甚至比冬奧會期間的氣溫還讓人感到寒冷，而一位中國乒乓球運動員和一位美國運動員在大巴車上的偶然相遇卻啟動了中美建立正式外交關系的進程。

事情發生在1971年日本舉辦的世界乒乓球錦標賽期間。美國少年運動員格倫·科恩因為錯過自己國家隊的大巴，就上了中國隊的大巴。

車上有位叫莊則棟的中國運動員，一番猶豫后，還是主動上前，在翻譯人員的幫助下，和科恩聊了起來。鑒于那時候政治上的限制，莊則棟主動和美國人說話，可以算是非常勇敢的舉動了。

“當時車上所有人都很緊張。”莊則棟2008年接受美國有線電視新聞網采訪時說，“中國運動員們先前受到告誡，不要和美國人說話，不要和他們握手，不要和他們交換禮物。

“但我看著科恩，心想：‘他又不是制定國家政策的人，他只是個體育運動員，一個普通的美國人而已。’”

莊則棟把一條絲綢織錦作為禮物贈與這位長發美國人，第二天，科恩送給了莊則棟一件印有和平標志和LET IT BE字樣的T恤。

一時間，媒體上到處是他們的合影照片。不久后，毛主席便邀請美國乒乓球隊到中國進行友誼比賽。

次年，美國總統理查德·尼克松訪華，這次來訪最終促成了中美兩國在1979年正式建立外交關系。

摔跤外交

與“乒乓外交”相似，美國和伊朗兩國的摔跤運動員上演了“摔跤外交”。按美國智庫大西洋理事會的話說，“‘摔跤外交’有助于改變人們對伊朗社會和美國社會的看法，有助于在體育界和普通民眾之間架起溝通的橋梁。”

但就在2017年，摔跤運動員們不得不面對政治動蕩引起的麻煩，起因是特朗普政府發布旅游禁令，禁止穆斯林占人口多數的七個國家（包括伊朗）的公民入境美國。

作為報復，伊朗政府拒絕為將去伊朗參加2017年自由式摔跤世界杯大賽的美國運動員發放簽證。

后來美國法院停止執行禁令，伊朗政府最終發了簽證。

“伊朗摔跤聯合會為我們盡力游說，我想，伊朗政府也希望借此機會展示他們的仁善之心，表達對摔跤這項體育運動的尊重。”美國國家摔跤隊主教練比爾·扎迪克說。

“沒有美國隊參加的世界杯賽事就不算是真正的世界杯。”伊朗摔跤聯合會會長拉蘇爾·卡德姆說道。

美伊兩國摔跤運動員相互尊重，這一點顯而易見。

“三年來，我一直在國外搞摔跤，接觸到的每一位伊朗人都很謙和有禮。”一次訓練時，奧運會金牌獲得者、美國摔跤運動員凱爾·斯奈德說。

“雖然兩國偶爾出現政治摩擦，但這絕不會影響到摔跤運動本身，我們是競技者，是實實在在的人，彼此尊重。”斯奈德說。

橄欖球聯誼

1994年，那時候的南非黑人對英式橄欖球這項體育運動普遍很反感，幾十年的種族隔離制度讓他們痛苦不堪，而橄欖球是白人的游戲，南非黑人長期以來所受的壓迫正是來自于白人。

當時新當選的南非總統納爾遜·曼德拉決定請橄欖球球星弗朗索瓦·皮納爾幫忙彌合嚴重的種族分裂。

《化敵為友》一書的作者約翰·卡林說，曼德拉利用橄欖球世界杯的決賽賽場征服了一部分他曾經的敵人——大部分南非人當初都支持對曼德拉27年的監禁，還曾威脅說要把他這位南非首任黑人總統治下的國家推入內戰。

1995年南非橄欖球世界杯開賽前，曼德拉接見了皮納爾。

“真是無法形容當時緊張的心情。”皮納爾說，“我不知道他要我做什么事情，心里嘀咕著：‘他為什么要見我？我該說些什么？’”

在那屆橄欖球世界杯的決賽賽場上，皮納爾帶領南非隊奇跡般奪冠，以此向曼德拉致敬。

曼德拉走進比賽場地，和球員們一一握手。他身著南非國家橄欖球隊的綠色隊服，頭戴球隊綠色帽子，運動衫上的隊員編號和皮納爾的相同。

觀眾起初看到曼德拉時，似乎變得“死一般地靜默”，卡林說。然后出乎意料的是，人們開始一聲接一聲喊他的名字：“納爾遜！納爾遜！”

這樣的故事情節聽起來是不是足以拍一部好萊塢大片了？它確實被搬上了銀幕，這就是2009年由美國導演克林特·伊斯特伍德執導的影片《成事在人》，片中，摩根·弗里曼飾演納爾遜·曼德拉，馬特·達蒙飾演弗朗索瓦·皮納爾。

超越政治硬實力

“冰球外交”一詞指的是在“冷戰”時期的1972年加拿大和蘇聯之間展開的連續八場冰球比賽，又一次，兩個不同政治體制國家的關系通過體育運動得到了改善。其他幾個值得關注的例子還包括：希臘和土耳其的籃球外交、印度和巴基斯坦的板球外交以及由以色列球員和巴勒斯坦球員組成的和平足球隊。

始于古希臘的奧林匹克休戰原則規定，交戰國家在參加奧運會期間必須暫時停戰，而奧運圣火正是該原則的部分象征。

真是再合適不過了。