As officials headed home from the "closed loop" Olympic bubble in Beijing, Russian troops launched another invasion of Ukraine.

"The International Olympic Committee (IOC) strongly condemns the breach of the Olympic Truce by the Russian Government," a statement from IOC headquarters in Lausanne said.

"Following recent events, the IOC is deeply concerned about the safety of the Olympic Community in Ukraine.

"It has established a task force to closely monitor the situation and to coordinate humanitarian assistance to members of the Olympic Community in Ukraine where possible."

The presence of Russian troops represents a violation of the Olympic Truce which had been adopted by all members of the United Nations. 

It was established for the duration of the Olympics and remains in force until seven days after the conclusion of the 2022 Paralympic Games.

Russian President Putin had been among world leaders who attended the Beijing 2022 Opening Ceremony, where IOC President Thomas Bach urged "give peace a chance."

The latest crisis comes only a week after a leading Human Rights Watch official described the IOC as "absurd, denialist and pathetic" for its continued support of the Beijing regime which staged the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Ever since the city was chosen in 2015, many have voiced their opposition and protest groups characterised the choice as endorsing a regime which operates heavy media censorship and stands accused of human rights abuses against minorities and the use of forced labour.

When Beijing 2022 official Yan Jiarong made not one, but two interjections of a highly politicised nature, no reproach came from IOC spokesperson Mark Adams.

Days later, the IOC had decided to award the Olympic Cup, the longest-standing non-sporting award in its gift, to the "People of China".

Many hailed the Games as a success, but critics charged that Olympic officials were in thrall to the Beijing Government.

In the past, many considered the IOC was equally slow to express concerns at the shortcomings of host Governments.

The IOC have often used an argument expounded by longtime President Avery Brundage.

"In an imperfect world, if participation in sport is to be stopped every time politicians violate the laws of humanity, there will be few international competitions," Brundage said.

"Is is not better, to continue our contests and try to extend the sportsmanship of the athletic field into other areas?"

In 1968, only a few days before the Olympics began, the Mexican Government authorised armed troops to quell a student demonstration days.

John Rodda, a respected journalist with The Guardian newspaper, had gone to cover a student meeting in the Tlatelōlco area of the city at the Plaza de Tres Culturas. It was a protest which soon turned to violence.

Rodda’s account of what followed was headlined "Trapped at gunpoint in the middle of fighting". He described how firing had begun at the setting off of a green flare.

He also told of a sinister "Olympic" security force identified by the wearing of a single white glove.

"Hardly had I reached the floor, than the air was filled with gunfire, the staccato of machine guns and rifles," Rodda reported.

He informed the IOC leadership.

Future IOC President Lord Killanin later recalled how the incident was discussed at an Executive Board meeting shortly afterwards. 

"The only person who did not appear to be at all upset by what had happened was the former head of the Organising Committee General Jose de Jesus Clark," Killanin wrote.

The Mexican member insisted that "more people were killed in traffic accidents in Mexico every day than had been shot in the square that night, so what was all the fuss about?"

There seemed little appetite for further investigation and there was no public admonishment of the Mexican Government from IOC members. They took their lead from Brundage. 

"The Games will proceed as scheduled," he insisted. 

"None of the violence has at any time been directed against the Olympic Games. We have been assured by the Mexican authorities that nothing will affect the peaceful entrance of the flame into the Stadium on October 12. 

"We have full confidence that the Mexican people known for their great sportsmanship and hospitality will join participants and spectators in celebrating the Games, a veritable oasis in a troubled world," Brundage affirmed.

In 2008, Rodda revealed that Brundage had warned Mexican officials to regain control of the demonstrations under threat that the Olympics might be cancelled.

The implication was that the IOC President had, albeit unwittingly, encouraged the draconian action by the authorities.

Brundage's attitude to the massacre was revealed later when he objected to the inclusion of footage of the Black Power demonstrations by American sprinters John Carlos and Tommie Smith in the official film of the Games.

"It was very disturbing to have you confirm rumours about the use of pictures of the nasty demonstration against the United States flag," the IOC President wore to Mexico 1968 organising chief Pedro Ramírez Vázquez. 

"It had nothing to do with sport, it was a shameful abuse of hospitality and has no more place in the film than the gunfire at Tlatelōlco."

Brundage had been a IOC member since the time of the infamous 1936 Olympics, held in the shadow of the swastika in Berlin.

When the host cities of Berlin and Garmisch-Partenkirchen had originally been chosen, Adolf Hitler had not yet come to power. As the nature of the Nazi regime became clear, moves for a boycott surfaced in the US and Britain.

IOC members sought assurances from organisers that Jewish athletes would face no discrimination, but there was no follow through.

High jumper Gretel Bergmann was amongst those excluded because she was Jewish.

In 1936, the IOC session was also held in Berlin and Hitler’s Reich Minister Rudolf Hess made an address.

"I would also like to extend a special greeting in the name of the Führer and of the entire German nation to our foreign guests who are staying in our capital in order to witness this peaceful combat between the countries of the world," Hess said.

"That they can foster this spirit through the Olympic Games and thus prepare the way for the type of true and honourable peace so necessary for our troubled world of today is a source of deep satisfaction not only to the active German participants but to the entire nation."

The speech by Hess was followed by the Nazi Ttate Commissioner of Berlin Julius Lippert.

"When we today pass through the festively decorated streets, we can be certain that all this preparation which has been made is by no means artificial or forced," Lippert insisted.

"The Olympic ideals have become firmly embedded in all our hearts."

In the years which followed the 1936 Games, the IOC presented a diploma to Leni Riefenstahl for her direction of Olympia, the official film. Then in 1939, it awarded the Olympic Cup to the Nazi leisure organisation "Strength through Joy".

Many comparisons were made between the IOC’s attitude in 1936 and their relationship with the Soviet Government at the 1980 Olympics to Moscow.

Moscow invited a number of IOC members to Moscow in 1973 for the Universiade as part of the promotion of the Olympic bid for 1980.

A number of Israeli athletes were allegedly booed whilst competing in the Games.

Yet when the decision was taken in 1974 at the IOC session in Vienna, it is thought that the IOC voted overwhelmingly for the Olympics to be staged in Moscow, even though the Soviet Government had cracked down on dissidents and strictly censored the media at that time.

At the Opening Ceremony in 1980, IOC President Lord Killanin made his traditional address.

"I would like to welcome all the athletes and officials here today, especially those who have shown their complete independence to travel to compete, despite many pressures placed on them," Killanin said.

"I must repeat that these Games belong to the International Olympic Committee, and are allocated purely on the ability of the host city to organise them."

Russian cosmonauts sent a message to the Games participants.

"Let the Olympic Flame of friendship always burn, let rivalry be confined only to the sports field."

The Opening Ceremony included many references to peace, but the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the previous winter had prompted a boycott. 

The US, Canada, Germany and Japan did not participate at all, and other nations sent much smaller teams to the Games.

Many Western athletes did not participate in ceremonies.

Beijing apart, the Winter Olympics rarely excite the same degree of political activity as the Summer Games.

In 2014, Sochi was considered a controversial host city but mostly because of President Vladimir Putin’s legislation on homosexuality and LGBT+ rights.

Although the IOC later enshrined non-discrimination in the Olympic Charter, it did not confront the Russian leader over this policy.

Putin himself identified closely with the success of the Games and was often pictured in the uniform of a Games volunteer.

At an official function with the IOC President before they began, he had described the Games as "a festival of sport peace and friendship."

Shortly after the 2014 Games came to an end, Russian troops made an incursion into Ukraine annexing territory in Crimea.

It is the same conflict which has continued this week.