Explaining planned Olympics attendance, Zeman says sport and politics should not be mixed

President Zeman has outlined his reasons for going to the Winter Olympics in the Russian city of Sochi next month while his counterparts from some other European states are staying away because of the host country’s stance on gay rights. Speaking to school children on a visit to the Karlovy Vary region, the head of state said the Olympics should remain a purely sporting event and that human rights issues ought to be dealt with at the political level. He said the nonsense seen in boycotts of the Moscow and LA games in the 1980s should not be repeated.