By Tobias Carroll In an ideal world, the Olympics would be exist in its ideal state: a way for the world’s best athletes to compete against one another in their chosen fields. Instead, global politics can often play a significant role in and around the competition itself. This can involve boycotts — like those that took place in the 1980s during the Cold War, or like the diplomatic boycott playing out during the Winter Games. In 2008, Russia invaded Georgia as that year’s Olympics began. It’s not surprising, then, to see a political dimension to the 2022 Winter Olympics, which has included the…