The 2008 Olympics have been historical. Countries like Afghanistan are getting their first medals in Olympic history; records are being broken across the board; a country is engaged in rampant cheating with no intervention from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Wait. What?

It falls on the shoulders of the IOC to step in and ensure fairness and integrity of the Games. Yet its absence is glaringly obvious through the cheating it is allowing.

The IOC is allowing politics to influence its decisions.

Controversy not only surrounds the well-publicized women’s gymnastics this year, but other events are suffering from bias as well.

In boxing, the world bantamweight bronze medalist, Britain’s Joe Murray, was beaten by Chinese boxer Yu Gu in the first round. Gu was defeated in the first round of the Asian Games in 2006 and was beaten by the Murray in the quarterfinals of the World Championships in 2007.

When a boxer who hasn’t even placed in previous competitions comes to the Olympics and beats one of the favorites by a whopping score of 17-7, it raises serious questions. Murray later said, “They [the judges] were giving him points for anything, but when I was hitting him, they were not giving me points.”

In the double trap clay pigeon-shooting competition, Australia’s Russell Mark was beaten by Chinese shooter Hu Binyuan under suspicious circumstances: the Chinese judges reportedly called hit on a target Binyuan clearly missed, Mark says.

And, had the United States — or any other nation for that matter — sent 13-year-old gymnasts to the Games, the girls would not have made it into the stadium, let alone been allowed to compete.

Why the IOC is not stepping in to ensure the integrity of the Games is beyond me, but it is only made more astounding by the fact that it has gone unaddressed thus far.

Why is the IOC ignoring blatant rule violations and allowing judges to show a clear bias towards Chinese athletes?

Because of politics.

During the pairs figure skating finals at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002, a scandal erupted after a corrupt French judge awarded the Russian skaters higher marks than the favored Canadian skaters. The IOC stepped in and awarded dual gold medals to both teams, causing public outrage.

Perhaps the fiasco at the Salt Lake Games has affected the IOC’s willingness to step in and enforce the rules.

If this is the case, and the IOC has been scared into silence, then it needs to grow a backbone.

In preparation for this year’s Games, the Chinese government has spent more than $40 billion, shattering the $12 billion bill the Olympics cost Athens in 2004.

As a direct result of China’s spending, the IOC is set to make an estimated $3 billion on the Beijing Games.

If the IOC were to accuse China of being dishonest, it would be a powerful insult to a country that has made a substantial economic showing of support for the Games.

China is on the rise economically, and many nations competing in the Olympics have business ties to it.

There is no telling what China — a nation very confident in its power and clout — might do from a business standpoint if it believes a particular country judged Chinese athletes too harshly.

Some smaller countries, such as those in Eastern Europe, rely so heavily on China’s manufacturing capabilities that any loss of Chinese trade could be devastating. Judges — though meant to be unbiased — are only human, and many of these political and economic concerns surely weigh on their minds.

The benefits Chinese athletes are enjoying, whether motivated by fear or favoritism, critically undermine all the Games stand for and make a farce of the goal of international cooperation established by the IOC.

The IOC must assert its authority to uphold the principals and integrity of the Olympics.

Zach Holder is a letters sophomore. His column appears every other Friday.