That sport is a unifying factor cannot be put in doubt.

Athletes from around the world take part in international events in an atmosphere of competition, yes, but also in an atmosphere of respect – towards the officials controlling the game, their opponents and the public watching them.

Of course, incidents sometimes do happen. After all, we all want to win or want our favourite player of team to win, and this sometimes pushes people into acting in a way that should be avoided, especially in sport. But, luckily, these violent incidents are not as common as one imagines. The problem is that, as in anything else, the media highlights the negative side of things much more that it should.

And it was therefore a much-needed breath of fresh air to see two athletes from Russia and Georgia embrace and kiss each other after they each received a medal at the Olympic Games being held in China. With their countries involved in a conflict that started last week and has already led to hundreds of deaths, the hug between Russia’s Natalia Paderina and Georgia’s Nino Salukvadze after the 10-metre air pistol final deserved the great attention that was given during news bulletins and newspapers.

This small gesture was a message to their own political leaders – and all politicians around the world – that sport should never be used as a tool of division in the way that politics often are.

In this scenario, it was a sad moment that South Korea and North Korea did not take part in the opening ceremony together, as they had done in the last two editions of the Olympic Games held in Sydney and Athens. It seems that the two nations have grown further apart, and this time sport unfortunately was not able to help.

Yet, as said before, sport should not be used by politicians as part of their own plans. And therefore it is good that no sport federation fell into the trap of using the Games’ opening ceremony as a chance to protest against China, as many politicians around the world suggested before the Games started.

Politicians were urging athletes not to take part in the opening ceremony of the Games as a symbolic protest against the Chinese authorities on issues such as that concerning Tibet. But not one of the over 10,000 athletes listened, and the grandiose and spectacular ceremony the Chinese came up with last Friday went without a hitch.

Why should athletes and sport be involved in politics? Haven’t we learnt from the sad experiences of the 1980s, when first the United States boycotted the Moscow Games and then the Russians boycotted the ones held in Los Angeles?

Athletes prepare for these Games as the highlight of their career. They spend four years training for the big event, even when they know they have little chance of being in the spotlight. But even those who know they have no chance for a medal consider their participation at the Olympics as one of the best moments of their life. Why should therefore politicians hide behind athletes and use them as a weapon?

For many, participating in the Olympic Games is a chance of a lifetime. Why should this be spoilt by politics?

What politicians should do, if they really want to exert some pressure on some country, is do their own job. No kind of protest at the Games’ opening ceremony would have had any impact on the Chinese authorities.

Sport should always remain what it is – a healthy competition between athletes, in this case coming from the four corners of the world, to find out who is the best among them. Sport always loses when it is involved in politics.