The International Olympic Committee, ready to announce Friday the host of the 2008 summer Games, has a clear set of standards that a host city must meet to win the Games and all international and economic attention that come with them. The cities are judged, for instance, on the quality and locations of their facilities, transportation, weather, safety and financial support. With these and many other standards in mind, the IOC appears to have narrowed its choice to Toronto, Paris and Beijing. But only two of those cities belong on the list.

It was just two years ago that the IOC, after a thorough review by a commission headed by George Mitchell, was found to have participated in fraudulent scholarships, improper gift giving, favoritism and other improprieties, connected particularly with the Salt Lake City Games of 2002 but clearly part of the IOC culture. With the reporting of these scandals came reforms, so it is not surprising that the review of cities for 2008 is scrupulously straightforward.

So straightforward, in fact, that the review says little or nothing about one of the IOC’s fundamental but harder-to-quantify principles, adopted less than a year ago. That principle says, “Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on joy found in effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.”

By just about any civilized nation’s standards respect for fundamental ethical principles would include respect for freedom of speech and religion. If that is so, the inclusion of Beijing in the front-runners’ list seems especially out of place. China’s renewed attacks on journalists, dissidents and, especially of late, on members of the religious group Falun Gong and its denial and intentional misreporting of an HIV/AIDS crisis in its midst add up to a near total lack of respect for ethical principles.

Some have suggested that awarding the 2008 Games to China will keep that nation on its best behavior for the next seven years. It is tempting to believe such an idea, but the recent imprisonments even as the IOC is close to choosing a city suggests that the Olympics doesn’t have as much influence on Beijing’s actions as might be hoped.

Officials from the United States have said they will remain neutral on Beijing’s Olympic bid, and given the debacle of Salt Lake City, that is understandable. But if the Olympics are to regain the stature they once had as a means toward international understanding, nations must speak in favor of host cities that at the very least embody the Olympic principles. Only two on the favorites’ list do.