I take a cynical view of calls for sporting boycotts of this kind of event. Very few regimes are squeaky-clean and there is usually something which can be objected to make a political point. However the people who call for a boycott are not usually those who will be affected by it. They expect athletes to give up what might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to achieve their life's dream but are not prepared to give up trade or other relationships. It's an easy gesture which hurts the innocent more than the guilty.

The previous boycott of a Moscow Olypics achieved what? Who can even remember the cause of it? All it achieved was the disappointment of those athletes who were unable to attend, and a devaluing of the achievements of those who did.

The only sporting boycott I can think of which may have helped to achieve change was that of South Africa. However that was very different - it was S Africa which was excluded from international events, and the major championships were not held there. Athletes had plenty of other opportunities to perform elsewhere and were not penalised in the same way as an Olympic boycott would.